Saturday, January 3, 2009

A Teenager and Date Night

Those of you acquainted with the Bear know that he recently let us discover that he noticed there are more girls in the world than his grandmothers, mother, sisters, aunts, nieces, cousin, and the wives of cousins (Did I forget anyone?). Therefore, you might be terribly concerned when reading the above title. Not to worry. I'm not crazy enough to allow him to have an actual date night of his own. What do you take me for? Don't answer that!

With my years of vast experience of either being a teenager (which was long ago) or raising teenagers (which I've been doing for 14 consecutive years now - what kind of award does that get me?) you'd think I'd be wise in the ways of the teenager and his/her world. But, alas, I've never mastered their inconsistencies:

  • They don't want you to look at them, but they want you to notice the new clothes or hairstyles they are sporting.
  • They want to be independent, but they want to use your money to become that way.
  • They don't want to be seen with you, but they don't want you to go out the door without them.

It makes my head hurt!


Pastor Dad and I decided that we needed a bit of time alone together after a couple of hectic months (or three) so we planned an evening spent mingling among crowds of people totally unrelated to us. In other words, we planned a date. Real dinner at a real restaurant followed by some mindless entertainment. Cell phones turned off. Just peace, quiet, and the two of us amidst the throngs of humanity around us living their own lives without interrupting ours.


The Bear caught wind of our plans and decided that he needed to go along. I have no idea why. Usually, we can't drag his body out the door unless it is for one of his basketball games, but for some reason he decided he needed to be included in the night's proceedings.


No way!!!!!!! When it comes to "them" and "us" he is part of the "them" on such occasions. Are we clear? The Bear is not included in our date night!


When we returned (at midnight) he was waiting up like some nervous parent who couldn't sleep. Where had we been? Who had we spoken with? What had we had to eat? I don't think my mother ever asked such detailed questions when Pastor Dad returned me home 31 years ago!


I know there comes a point in time where the child becomes the parent, but suffice it to say that we ain't there yet. We ain't even there yet with our own parents, so I'm pretty sure we can survive a bit longer without our teenager taking control of our date night.


And yes, Pastor Dad and I had a great evening together giggling like a couple of teenagers.

7 comments :

  1. I'm glad you had a fun evening without any offspring! The two of us have so much time together now that we don't need date nights. Every night is a date. I've started looking for new recipes to try out and we're having fun staying home! What a shift from years ago.

    What I've been keeping busy with lately is spending time with our grands so that their parents can have a special date! They sure need it!

    Blessings!

    E

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  2. If me or my brother calls Mom and Dad at home and on their cell phone and they don't answer, we call each other to find out if the other one knows where they went and what they are doing. :D And then we both call until they answer. :D Us kids just can't help it. LOL! :D Take care!

    Love In Christ, Brittany

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  3. We made it to Sonic tonight for Java Chillers and to the gas station for gas and milk and no child called us. AMAZING!
    Donna
    (On The Branch's mom :-) )

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  4. What?! You left the house with out telling one of us??!! ;-D J/K , Mom!

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  5. Donna and Britt,

    It is true that if I leave the house for more than 5 minutes my cell phone will ring and it will be the Bear asking me where I am. However, if I try to track him down he is either in a "dead cell location" or his phone didn't ring, or... You get the picture. I have a hard time keeping tabs on him but he wants to know where I am constantly!

    I don't know if he's being nosy or chivalrous. I'm guessing it is the former rather than the latter! :)

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  6. Thanks for stopping by my blog...looks like I'll need to be stopping in on yours once in a while, we are just starting down the journey of the teenage years!

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  7. You went out and didn't tell me?!

    And I didn't even get a cookie out of the deal like Bear did.

    (Pouting)

    Just kidding, of course. I'm glad you had a chance to get out together and decompress a bit.

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Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer.
Psalms 19:14 (KJV)