Saturday, October 4, 2008
I've Been Dumped
I've been dumped. It is no longer "cool" to be seen with your mom at a town festival. Le is 12 years old. She stands 5'5" and can kick butt if needed. She is everything tomboy and girlie all rolled into one. She wanted to go downtown for Celebrate Wallingford. Crafts, food,touch a truck, jumping things ect. But after being there for about 15 minutes she realized that it is no longer in her best interest as a cool kid to be there with her totally uncool mom. She ran into a friend from school whose mom has a tent there. I left her for 5 minutes to check out a few more crafters and came back to find her gone. After calling her cell phone which she didn't answer, panic set in. Now to correctly set the scene you have to know this fair takes place in our downtown. This is a small town in New England and the town green is complete with white gazabo and about 20 policemen walking around. Not much exciting happens around here. It is also only 2 blocks from our house. 2 small blocks. So why did I panic? I grew up in this neighborhood just 7 houses away from where I live. During the summer you got on your bike and rode all day. Cardinal rule, be home when the church bells rang at 6 o'clock. Now I panic and try to find my child in a crowd. Why? Why does it have to be so different? She really isn't a little girl anymore. I was going off younger than her doing stuff with my friends. Riding our bikes almost a mile away to the community pool. But I can't fathom leaving Le 2 blocks from the house. 2 small blocks. After a call to my husband (he's at work) and finding her again. I decided to let go just a bit. I gave her 20 bucks and came home. She's hanging with friends downtown on a beautiful autum day. Having fried dough and feeling grown up. She's only 2 blocks away. 2 very large blocks from this desk.
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2 comments:
ohhh yes, I remember fondly the days when I couldn't stand being anywhere with my mother, let alone be seen even near her...but you know that only lasts a few years and eventually when she's near her high school days it's okay again! It's just those beginning days of adolescence when she's gonna be embarassed.....if it helps you I could be seen with you around town!!!! Brownie points for both of us!
Oh, I get the worry... definitely. It seems that we're not too far apart in age (I have a 15 year old son). Somehow despite the freedom we had as kids, we were taught to fear strangers more and more as we grew older. Maybe it's the access to news from broader areas or the way that anything involving a child is automatically big news? Ours was possibly the last generation to have (somewhat) relaxed parents as the norm. Now it's as though the parents who are able to have a little trust and faith are "bad" parents. Kudos to you for getting past that (as best you could)!
Shan :+)
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