Life with teenagers is really interesting and getting more so by the day. I don't know why I thought that life would get easier when they were old enough to "do stuff on their own". In ways, I suppose, it did get easier, but it also got a lot more complicated. Take, for instance, my son's new job.
I'm thankful that my son is working and he's certainly excited about it, but it has just thrown me for a loop schedule-wise. Generally, I somehow manage to show up where I'm supposed to be when I'm supposed to be there, but this one shift and change has really messed me up. I've narrowly missed showing up to a few events, I've totally forgotten others, and I find myself having sudden moments of panic like, "Oh my gosh, wasn't this the day I was supposed to...?"
It makes me seem pretty thoughtless of others. I keep forgetting stuff. Sorry, Big E., that I forgot your birthday that just happens to come the day after mine! My friends and family are constantly saying, "Don't you remember this is the weekend I'm going on my trip to such and such?" or "Remember how I told you that I'm doing thus and such this month?" No, I don't remember any of it! I don't even know my own schedule for yesterday or tomorrow so I can guarantee I don't remember anyone else's stuff.
Today my cousin called to schedule a dinner date with our family. First off, I couldn't find my calendar. I had to search through my "Life" book that is "supposed" to house all the vital information for my life. No calendar there. Finally, after searching multiple bags scatttered throughout the house I found it. Then she started proposing dates. No, that's my daughter's softball practice. No, my son might be working that evening, but we won't officially have his schedule until tomorrow. No, that's John's only night home this week. No, Toastmasters night for me. I could not give the woman a date for dinner because our time is that scattered and unpredictable. Honestly, folks, I have to calculate each evening exactly how many of us will be home at the dinner hour or even sleeping in the house for the night.
The other night I was lying in bed drifting off when the phone rang. My husband answered it. It was my friend, Tina, calling to say she was coming by to drop off her son. Did I remember that her son was spending the night and riding to co-op with us the next day? Of course not. Had she called any later the house would have been on lock down for the night and her poor boy would have been sleeping outside. This has happened much lately. I come to the kitchen in the morning and discover that I've birthed more full grown teenage children during the night. I don't even bother to count anymore, but just start assigning chores for the day to whoever happens to be at the breakfast table. It's a blur as to who my real children are these days. Maybe I should host a "To Tell the Truth" episode and ask the real Lillie children to please stand up.
I'm not sure what we'll do when my son's baseball season starts and when he takes concurrent classes in the fall. By then he will have his license, and though I never planned to get him a car so early in the game, I almost think it will be a necessity.
But that's all I can say about the busy lives of parents of teenagers because I just remembered that in less than an hour my friend, Melissa, is picking me up to take me out for a birthday lunch. Did I mention that I'm still unshowered and sitting in my bathrobe? And do you think I wrote this little event on my calendar- that I can never find? Of course not! |
