Sunday, February 21, 2010

Saturday Night Fever

Friday was a long day.

A....very....long....day.

So yesterday I was not happy to have my phone ring at the ungodly hour of 10:30 in the morning. It was my ex wife. As the phone rang I quickly took a self inventory....I was preoccupied. I have not had enough sleep. I have not had any coffee....Yup...the conditions were perfect for a blow-up with my ex.

I drew a deep breath...reminding myself that my impatience is usually the cause of many of my unpleasant interactions with my ex...and answered the phone. Our chat lasted for about two minutes and she only wanted one thing from me....could I drop our oldest son off at a school dance at 7:00? I told her yes and quickly got off the phone before the caffeine related DTs set in.

As I nursed my morning coffee it set in...my son....is going....to a dance. My son is going to a dance. My teenaged pubescent son is going to a dance. I was assured by a Facebook friend who also happens to have children attending the same school as my kids that these were well chaperoned affairs and were far more tame than what happens at dances in public schools. She also told me that her husband was one of the chaperons. Thanks...I await his report.

That I have entered a brave new world of parenting a teenager is not news to me. Its having to do something about it is the challenging part. I spent yesterday afternoon with the kids and made the mistake of asking Oliver about the dance.

Dad "Hey pal...are you looking forward to the dance tonight"

Oldest Son "grunt"

Dad "Are any of your friends going?"

Oldest Son "mumble"

Dad "what was that?"

Oldest Son "EVERYONE is going" in an exasperated voice that bordered on mutinous.

I then decided to go hang out with the son who still likes me.

We rode to the dance in silence, with my son periodically checking his hair while providing monosyllabic grunts as responses to my impertinent questions. It was a lot of fun.

When we arrived, he quickly wished me a good night, bolted out of the car, and strode into school like he owned the place.

2 comments:

  1. My teen just had her Winter Ball... it was super fun! $100 on a dress and shoes and when we got there to drop her off her boyfriend and all the other boys were in JEANS! Ugh, seriously?

    ReplyDelete
  2. As a mom who has raised 2 and a half (one just turned 18) daughters, I can warm you that one day you wake up to find that your wide eyed, innocent cherub child has morphed into a monster being overnight -- and hasn't much more than disdain for you. The good news is that one day (in about 8 years) you will find that your son has morphed into a perfectly admirable human being again. As they say -- this too shall pass --- eventually. : )

    Welcome -- father of teen.

    ReplyDelete