Thursday, September 9, 2010

Feeling Grownup. . .

I have "officially" been an adult for 24 years.

I admit that sometimes I feel old, but I don't usually feel like a "Grownup".

Maybe it's because I am the youngest person in my office.  I dunno.

But this morning. . . .

After dropping my littles off to school, I was heading to work down a busy avenue.

Two tweeny girls were walking to school.  I knew they were tweens because they were both dressed exactly alike -- and they obviously weren't sisters.  I should say that they were both accessorized exactly alike, as they were wearing the requisite white-polo-khaki-pants uniform.   They each wore pink hoodies, identical pink sketchers and carried identical Justin backpacks.  They each wore their hair tied in a pink chongo on top of their heads.  They walked with that self-conscious gait that tweens have.  They were cute.

Then, one of them tosses her Red-Bull can on the ground.

Excuse me?

Were you born in a BARN?

Without thinking, I pulled my car into the median, rolled down the window, and in my best MOM voice, yelled:

"Sweetie!  Pick up that can you dropped!  Find a trash can and throw it away.  I KNOW you know better."

Slightly chagrined, Tween picked it up.  Good girl.

MOM voice said:  "Thank you, honey.  Have a good day, okay?"

It was a reminder that I am.

I am.

I am a GROWNUP.

Kids have to listen to me.

I can boss them around if I want. 

All I have to do is use that voice that all my mom's friends used on me when I was a kid.  Mrs. Klumb, Mrs. McHugh, Mrs. Kennedy, Mrs. Reeves.  All the great ladies of my youth were with me as I gently but firmly corrected a young lady.

Sure, they can cuss & smoke and do rebellious things when I am not there.  Sure, Tween might have tossed the can back on the ground as soon as I left.

But I am going to give her the benefit of the doubt. 

She knows she has to listen to a grownup.

8 comments:

  1. HA! You're right! You are so NOT mean! :)
    I always see you on the comment page of BW and you invited me to your blog -
    So here I am! :)
    I'm now one of your "Followers".
    I hope 'Anonymous' doesn't follow you here too!
    Nice meeting you!
    gabriele

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  2. Nice meeting you too gabriele! Welcome!

    I do love the BW tho -- he's the personification of my inner mean girl.

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  3. @BW. Squeeee! I am SO EXCITED that you are following my blog! I totally have a web crush on you (a platonic one -- see previous post!)

    And yes, Anon can suck it.

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  4. Shut UP, Bitchy Waiter is following you!?!? I am salivating with jealousy! Girl, what did I MISS???

    Meanwhile, love this post. Yep, I've been there too. In fact, the first time was when I was 18. Man, did I feel old when my Mom's voice flew out of my mouth as I told one of my girls (I was a camp counselor at the time) that "having a bad day does not give you the right to make everyone else's day bad, too."

    Sigh.

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  5. @ Alexa O -- I am SO SO SO excited about having you, BW & Annabel Manners as followers.

    I really miss your frequent blogs, even tho I totally get the beginning-of-the-semester-single-working-mom time crunch.

    I guess I am turning into a comedy blogger, although that wasn't necessarily the goal. I do love hearing that I'm funny tho.

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  6. I think you're getting funnier and funnier. And don't worry, there's lots of substance to your posts. Like the one about your kids at church--yes, funny, but also a true comment about life with kids.

    I really, really miss my blog life. Not just writing, but also reading so many and commenting on them all. You're one of about three that I read regularly right now. I'm hoping to get back to it, but until winter break I'm sure I won't be at the summer time level. But maybe two posts a week when the semester settles in?

    I'll consider myself as having "made it" when BW starts following me!

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  7. @ Alexa O -- U R funny!

    I appreciate your insight -- I am still such a blog newbie. I think I've been bloggerbating a bit.

    Come back when you are ready. Teaching is BEYOND hard -- my DH took on a class at the College this semester. It's taking up as much time as his full time job.

    ReplyDelete

I LOVE to read comments. Seriously. I check them every day. Insecure? Maybe.