Saturday, November 18, 2006

Things that make you shake your head back and forth slowly

Today has been a not so good day. It hasn't been absolutely horrible, but definitely not one of our best. Salinda basically spent the day in bed and told me to shut up every time I walked in the room. I finally threatened to ground her until May if she tried to skip our play plans tonight.

In the midst of all this Mike got home and within hours was frantic to leave. Wanted a ride to the mall. Since I was going near there, I decided to give him one and he told me he wanted me to come to the mall and pick him up before supper. I only agreed because we had purchased a ticket for him to go to the play with us tonight at his insistance. I wanted a chance to find someone to take his place before the last minute.

So, I went to pick him up. He was actually where he was supposed to be. He walked over to me and opened the door and said, "I know this is going to sound kind of weird, but can you buy me a coat?"

I said, "Of course not. You were really lucky to even get a ride based on your recent behavior (he had been missing for 11 hours yesterday, for example, and we think he might be stealing our van). Get in the car."

He said, "no thanks, I already have a ride" and walked away. I opened the door and called out to him, "So, you're not going to the play?" He said, "Nope." And as a good parent I had to say, just for my own conscience, "You better not be late."

Can you buy me a coat? This is the kid who has the nicest coat in the whole family. This is a kid who does NOTHING he is supposed to. This is a kid who owes us money for the door he bashed in. Can you buy me a coat?

And the head shakes back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. Slowly.

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