Transported Back to Seventh Grade
Today was a very gray and chilly day in Newport. So gray. So chilly. So dismal. We ran a few errands this morning and got lunch at Wendy's, then headed back to the bunker to eat and take a nice, long nap. One of the things that I like about the bunker is the ability to pull the blackout shades and have it be dark as a cave in here. We're getting used to only seeing the sun after 9:00 a.m. We're living in the dark. Like vampires or fungus or Democrats.
Anyway. I decided to take the kids to the park in the afternoon. We needed to get some exercise and try to clear the cobwebs of our sloth-like day. I bundled up the kids and headed down to the park to meet up with Josiah's newest and bestest buddy Logan.
For awhile, everyone romped joyfully around the park. My only excitement was trying to keep Annika's hat on her head. Not to digress, but I got her the cutest hat and mittens at Old Navy and though they are adorable and make her look like a yummy little pink-cheeked cherub/marshmallow, it is a traditional hat without the normal toddler straps and snaps. Thus, she keeps pulling it off. Maybe she has enough warmth through her enormous noggin of curly hair that I needn't worry about a hat?
Anyway, Logan is there and we're all having a great time, expending energy, expelling cobwebs. Then a group of about 12 teenagers shows up. Don't get me wrong, sometimes kids this age come to the park and are great. This is pretty rare, though. Most of the time, they horse around on equipment meant for much smaller kids, run off their mouths and plow over all the little kids.
This group was O.K. There were probably nine girls and three guys. I'm guessing 13 or 14 years of age...I'm getting bad at judging ages. They stayed in one corner of the little park and didn't make too much of a racket. Except that I couldn't help but watching them...and being transported back to seventh grade. All the girls were showing off, dancing around, teasing and chasing the boys. The boys were doing everything in their power to ignore the flirtations. It was just funny to me to see how goofy these girls acted, trying to get the guys to pay attention. Let's just say that I've definitely been there. And not just in seventh grade, I'm afraid.
At one point, one of the guys got up and left and one of the girls chased after him and they had a big fight right outside the park. Couldn't help but overhear it. He pushed her, she pushed him, they crabbed at each other and he walked off. Then, of course, she came back into the park to the waiting bosoms of her friends and they all hugged her and told her what a jerk he was. One of them offered to go give him a butt-kicking. It was all highly dramatic. I just wanted to walk over there and tell them that it's not worth it, that they should be using their time to play sports, be in debate or the school play, play the cello, paint or throw pots, read poetry, volunteer. Anything else but waste time being dramatic over guys!
Well, I suppose I wouldn't have listened to some "old" 33-year-old woman if she would have told ME that at 13!!*
* Mom, I know you're going to say that you told me 1,425 times not to cry over guys. This is a disclaimer to state that I heard you. We just never take our parents seriously until we're old enough to realize that they were pretty much right all the time. Sorry.
Anyway. I decided to take the kids to the park in the afternoon. We needed to get some exercise and try to clear the cobwebs of our sloth-like day. I bundled up the kids and headed down to the park to meet up with Josiah's newest and bestest buddy Logan.
For awhile, everyone romped joyfully around the park. My only excitement was trying to keep Annika's hat on her head. Not to digress, but I got her the cutest hat and mittens at Old Navy and though they are adorable and make her look like a yummy little pink-cheeked cherub/marshmallow, it is a traditional hat without the normal toddler straps and snaps. Thus, she keeps pulling it off. Maybe she has enough warmth through her enormous noggin of curly hair that I needn't worry about a hat?
Anyway, Logan is there and we're all having a great time, expending energy, expelling cobwebs. Then a group of about 12 teenagers shows up. Don't get me wrong, sometimes kids this age come to the park and are great. This is pretty rare, though. Most of the time, they horse around on equipment meant for much smaller kids, run off their mouths and plow over all the little kids.
This group was O.K. There were probably nine girls and three guys. I'm guessing 13 or 14 years of age...I'm getting bad at judging ages. They stayed in one corner of the little park and didn't make too much of a racket. Except that I couldn't help but watching them...and being transported back to seventh grade. All the girls were showing off, dancing around, teasing and chasing the boys. The boys were doing everything in their power to ignore the flirtations. It was just funny to me to see how goofy these girls acted, trying to get the guys to pay attention. Let's just say that I've definitely been there. And not just in seventh grade, I'm afraid.
At one point, one of the guys got up and left and one of the girls chased after him and they had a big fight right outside the park. Couldn't help but overhear it. He pushed her, she pushed him, they crabbed at each other and he walked off. Then, of course, she came back into the park to the waiting bosoms of her friends and they all hugged her and told her what a jerk he was. One of them offered to go give him a butt-kicking. It was all highly dramatic. I just wanted to walk over there and tell them that it's not worth it, that they should be using their time to play sports, be in debate or the school play, play the cello, paint or throw pots, read poetry, volunteer. Anything else but waste time being dramatic over guys!
Well, I suppose I wouldn't have listened to some "old" 33-year-old woman if she would have told ME that at 13!!*
* Mom, I know you're going to say that you told me 1,425 times not to cry over guys. This is a disclaimer to state that I heard you. We just never take our parents seriously until we're old enough to realize that they were pretty much right all the time. Sorry.
Comments
ONLY A FEW DAYS TILL YOU'RE BACK IN GOOD 'OL MINNESOTA...it's supposed to be in the 60's tomorrow! LOVE YA ALL...
P.S. You STILL should never cry over any boy...
::hand raised far above head::
with teenage crap. and It has only been a couple of weeks.
middle schoolers are simultaneously the most sensitive and cruelest beings on the face of the earth. I say you can cry over a boy, (sometimes boys are mean, girls too) but only for ten minutes. :o)