Mom misses son's pubertal debut

OK, here's the deal. I had to drive to the suburbs to go to court this morning, so I was listening to NPR. One of the stories, in its own special way, just sorta' weirded me out. It was about soldier moms returning home from Iraq. Here's the weird part:

While she was away, Smith missed her youngest son's puberty. "My youngest son, when I left, was maybe here to my nose in height," Smith says. "And I came back, he's four inches taller than me and his voice is deep. And I was like, 'Who are you?' ... That devastated me. So that's one thing I feel I lost. I lost my baby."

While I can understand this mom's regret at missing out on a year of her son's life, it just sounds kinda' creepy to say that she "missed his puberty." I'm sorry, but if my mom had expressed any interest in witnessing my puberty, I think I would have had no choice but to kill myself.

Does this sound weird to anyone else? Any moms out there who will admit to being enthusiastic about watching their sons' puberties?