The other day while I was out at lunch reaching for a lid for my drink…a young woman said ‘excuse me’ as she reached for a lid for her own drink. She then turned to me and said “I really like your fashion style." I turned to her and said ‘Thank you” oozing charm but like it was NOT uncommon for me to get those types of compliments from hip looking teenagers. (Inside I was dancing like Rocky at the top of the steps).
Teenagers Rule!
So, this encounter lead me to do something stupid. Ask my teenage niece for fashion advice….this is how it went.
Me: “How do these shoes look .”(modeling some flat pointy zebra patterned shoes for her)
Her: “They look weird.”
Me: “What do you mean ‘weird’? Weird good or weird bad?(Yes…there is a difference!) Boy George…'weird good' (the boy could WEAR that make-up). Lady Gaga…weird bad (very bad!)"
Her: “Who's Boy George?
Me: "Nevermind, how do they look?"
Her: "Weird bad…..like a big game hunter is going to come along and you are going to lose a foot.”
......needless to say I didn’t buy the shoes.
Teenagers suck!
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Thursday, August 19, 2010
A shower caddy goes to college
Three years ago on one of our jaunts to Target, I came across a shower caddy (You know the ones college students use). It wasn’t in the right isle and it was marked down to $1.50. I took it and put it in my cart. A little later my niece comes by (with a bag of hot Cheetos, her umpteenth tube of lip balm and a sweet smile). She put her loot in the cart and asked what the shower caddy was for. (She thought it was for her cleaning supplies because one of her duties is cleaning the restroom…No, she is not Cinderella!).
I told her it was for when she went to college. She reminded me that she was just a going to be a sophomore in High School. I said..”I know, but one day this caddy is going to college with you.” She just looked at me and rolled her eyes…….(teenagers and their stupid ‘eye rolls‘ suck!)
Any-who…..fast forward to last Monday, August 16, 2010 and the shower caddy (full of shower stuff) was one of the first items unloaded from the back of our truck to be placed in my nieces college dorm room. Like her, it was left behind in a place that it didn’t belong. It was marked down because it’s owners didn’t know it’s worth. Like her, it had made it to college because someone believed in it.
I miss that stupid shower caddy very much. I hope it does well in college.
I told her it was for when she went to college. She reminded me that she was just a going to be a sophomore in High School. I said..”I know, but one day this caddy is going to college with you.” She just looked at me and rolled her eyes…….(teenagers and their stupid ‘eye rolls‘ suck!)
Any-who…..fast forward to last Monday, August 16, 2010 and the shower caddy (full of shower stuff) was one of the first items unloaded from the back of our truck to be placed in my nieces college dorm room. Like her, it was left behind in a place that it didn’t belong. It was marked down because it’s owners didn’t know it’s worth. Like her, it had made it to college because someone believed in it.
I miss that stupid shower caddy very much. I hope it does well in college.
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Operation: Empty Nest....Commencing!
Six years ago I picked up a kid from the streets that had no social skills, no hygiene skills, no ‘legal’ skills what-so-ever! She was good at begging money off strangers, stealing car radios, bikes, smoking marijuana and drinking. When I first picked her up I seriously considered putting her in foster care....... or in a kennel.
Fast forward six years and what immersed was a girl who’s funny, smart and kind. She was an honor student, won a Scholar Letter and several Athletic Letters in high school and now she is off to college. For a little ‘heathen teenager’, she is responsible (to some degree – let’s not get crazy here!). I changed my ‘single woman’ status to ‘single aunt’ status and in return she transformed my heart and now I have to let her go.......WTH!!
She has been accepted at Cal State Northridge as a Mechanical Engineer Major (some co-worker’s children have been accepted into better learning institutions, but if you’ve read the first paragraph of this story- then you know that CSUN is our ‘Harvard, Yale and MIT’ all rolled into one). This coming week I am supposed to move her into her dorm, make the sign of the cross over her head and leave her there...........I DON’T THINK I CAN DO IT!!
Here are some of my strategies to keep her with me:
1. I have offered to teach her how to drive (She still does not know how because she has no job and no money for gas or insurance....who do you think I am Donald Trump?)
She said No
2. I told her that she can go to City College and live at home while she goes to school, then she can transfer to a 4 year college. Meanwhile she gets home cooked meals and I can kiss and hug her anytime I want.
She said No
3. I’ve threatened to write her out of my will. (At this point I can only leave her 2 Pomeranians and my Netflix account)
She said No
4. I have listed out my ailments and tried to make her feel guilty that I am going to be all alone. (Neither my periodic rheumatism nor my Iron deficiency seemed to convince her).
She said No
5. I threatened to move to Northridge with her if she went to CSUN.
She said No!
Darn it...I can’t break her! It’s like she’s been trained by the British SAS, the CIA and MI-5. She finally told me to stop making her feel guilty for getting into college. (Ah! So she is feeling guilty huh?...my plan seems to be working).
I have tried all my ‘Mexican Mother’ moves on her and she is determined to go to college.....I obviously went wrong somewhere in raising her, if all she wants to do is go to college instead of living with me until she’s 30 - like ‘good’ Mexican daughters do.
So I guess the only thing left for me to do is drive her to college, set her up in her dorm room, and pray that my lectures haunt her when someone is handing her a beer at a keg party.
...maybe I should add 'tracking' to her cell phone.
Fast forward six years and what immersed was a girl who’s funny, smart and kind. She was an honor student, won a Scholar Letter and several Athletic Letters in high school and now she is off to college. For a little ‘heathen teenager’, she is responsible (to some degree – let’s not get crazy here!). I changed my ‘single woman’ status to ‘single aunt’ status and in return she transformed my heart and now I have to let her go.......WTH!!
She has been accepted at Cal State Northridge as a Mechanical Engineer Major (some co-worker’s children have been accepted into better learning institutions, but if you’ve read the first paragraph of this story- then you know that CSUN is our ‘Harvard, Yale and MIT’ all rolled into one). This coming week I am supposed to move her into her dorm, make the sign of the cross over her head and leave her there...........I DON’T THINK I CAN DO IT!!
Here are some of my strategies to keep her with me:
1. I have offered to teach her how to drive (She still does not know how because she has no job and no money for gas or insurance....who do you think I am Donald Trump?)
She said No
2. I told her that she can go to City College and live at home while she goes to school, then she can transfer to a 4 year college. Meanwhile she gets home cooked meals and I can kiss and hug her anytime I want.
She said No
3. I’ve threatened to write her out of my will. (At this point I can only leave her 2 Pomeranians and my Netflix account)
She said No
4. I have listed out my ailments and tried to make her feel guilty that I am going to be all alone. (Neither my periodic rheumatism nor my Iron deficiency seemed to convince her).
She said No
5. I threatened to move to Northridge with her if she went to CSUN.
She said No!
Darn it...I can’t break her! It’s like she’s been trained by the British SAS, the CIA and MI-5. She finally told me to stop making her feel guilty for getting into college. (Ah! So she is feeling guilty huh?...my plan seems to be working).
I have tried all my ‘Mexican Mother’ moves on her and she is determined to go to college.....I obviously went wrong somewhere in raising her, if all she wants to do is go to college instead of living with me until she’s 30 - like ‘good’ Mexican daughters do.
So I guess the only thing left for me to do is drive her to college, set her up in her dorm room, and pray that my lectures haunt her when someone is handing her a beer at a keg party.
...maybe I should add 'tracking' to her cell phone.
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