Teenage Son's Letter to His Father Began: 'I Had to Elope with My New Girlfriend'

As parents, our lives are full of doubts and hesitation, hoping we don't make mistakes with our children and trying to protect them from making their own by offering them advice based on our experience.

The father in the following funny story nearly had a heart attack when he came upon a letter on his teenage son's bed – the kind of letter no parent wants to get filled with all the worse possible scenarios imaginable.

Firstly, he was shocked to see his son's bed was nicely made and everything was picked up and put away. Then the father saw the envelope propped up prominently on the pillow.

It was simply addressed, "Dad."

With the worst premonition, he sat down heavily on the bed and opened the envelope with trembling hands:

"Dear, Dad.

It is with great regret and sorrow that I'm writing to you.

I had to elope with my new girlfriend because I wanted to avoid a scene with you and Mum. I've been finding real passion with Stacy lately.

She is so nice, but I knew you would not approve of her because of all her piercings,her tattoos, her tight motorcycle leathers, and because she is so much older than I am.

But it's not only the passion, Dad. She's pregnant.

Stacy said that we will be very happy together. She has a trailer out in the woods and we've already collected a stack of firewood for the whole of winter. We share a dream of having many more children someday too.

Stacy has opened my eyes to the fact that marijuana doesn't really hurt anyone, so we'll be growing it for ourselves and trading it with the other people in the trailer park for all the cocaine and ecstasy we want.

I won't be able to finish my schooling and become that engineer I talked about, but in the meantime, we'll pray that science will find a cure for AIDS so that Stacy can get better. She sure deserves it!

Don't worry Dad, I'm 15, and I know how to take care of myself. You taught me all I need to know about being a good man and father.

Someday, I'm sure we'll be back to visit so you can get to know your many grandchildren.

Love,

Your son, Joshua.

P.S. Dad, none of the above is true. I'm over at Jason's house. I just wanted to remind you that there are worse things in life than the school report card that's on the kitchen table. Call when it is safe for me to come home! I love you."

Joshua is either going to get grounded for life or his parents are going to ignore the report card and just be happy it's not worse! What would you do under the same circumstance? Remember to share it with your friends and see if your choice of punishment is the same.

While the teenager in this fictitious story makes a valid point that life isn't always as clear cut as it seems and that we should appreciate our own minor troubles lest our burden increases, an Alabama mom was not so lucky.

Camika Shelby's 15-year-old teenage son Nigel tragically ended his life after being bullied over his sexual orientation.

The boy died in April after promising his mother he would do better at school. The woman returned home from work the next day to find her son's body.

She had already made arrangements for her son to get help with depression and said being ostracized by his peers for being gay really affected the teen. Sadly, he did not wait to get the help he so clearly needed.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255. Other international suicide helplines can be found at befrienders.org.