Teen Mistakes

Both of my boys are adopted. Erik, my oldest at 27 soon to be 28, was a tough kid to raise. When a child is adopted at an older age ( Erik was 6) their entire personlaities are already formed. You just pray you can guide them through life with a good understanding of what is right, what is wrong, what is moral and so on. Erik took a long way around, but has become a wonderful man.
Shawn is 15. Shawn will be 16 in April. I was hoping he wouldn't become a "teenager" as we all know most of them, but sighhhhhh, he did. There are days he talks, days he grumbles through them, days I want to choke him and days I want to hug him ( only if his friends aren't around because you know, not cool.)
I'm sure the looks from him must mean I have three horns growing from my head, but I believe it's mainly I'm an adult and he isn't, we don't live anywhere near the same planets, therefor I am the alien.
I've committed to getting him through these years and not losing my mind. There are days I am not sure where it is located, ( my mind that is) but I know I haven't lost it, just mislocated it.
Due to a really bad decision on his part, he won't get his license until he is 18. My heart sinks when I think of how this should be the time when he is practicing and in a few months he would leave in the car for the first time himself. I would be praying each time he left the house that if he has an accident, it be minor. Sadly, that won't happen for him and I am going to miss that time. I am wonderfing how if will affect him when all of his friends have their licenses and he does not.  I can't say I'll miss the times he breaks curfew and is in a car, but there is something about the years our kids go through at this age, that even though we have a hard time with it, it's passage into adulthood. The mistake he made, the bad decision, will be with him for a long time, It will take away a lot of what he should be going through the next two years. Hopefully it will make him a better man.
In the meantime, he will still be surly, moody, gripey, slouchy and a teen. That would have happened anyways. I love him.