2009-03-10
3/10/09
When you're a teenager and your crazy, unfair, narrow-minded parents RUIN your life...you make a promise to your unborn children that you will NEVER be like them.
The day your oldest son comes home to tell you about a girl kissing him and putting her tongue in his mouth...you wish his reaction was "EWWWW!" But that's not his reaction. So you tell him about how kissing can spread germs. And hope, in vain, that you will gross him out in a way the kiss didn't.
The day your younger son brings home his "girlfriend" and she's so bossy and overbearing, she answers for him when you ask him a question. So you tell him that relationships are supposed to be give and take and he shouldn't let ANYONE tell him how to live his life. Of course, this girl becomes his best friend and you're stuck with her for years.
Then there's your daughter. Your sweet, precious angel. In your mind, she'll always be that 5 year old who yelled with delight "It's my MOM!" when you picked her up from kindegarten. One day a boy knocks on your door. When you open it, you see a strange car in your driveway. This man/boy has the audacity to say "Is Shelby home?" Do you remember how awkward it was for you when boys came to your house? Do you calmly invite him into the house?
No! You snap "She's not home!" You slam the door in his face. Then you run to your daughter and confess what you've just done.
Parenting is nothing like we imagine when we're teenagers.