Monday, April 4, 2011

I'm a curmudgeon

I usually think of myself as a young, hip person.  Of course, I happen to be a mom, and of course, I'm over 30, but these things certainly don't make me someone who can't relate to the younger generation, right?  I mean, I remember being 14.  I even sometimes still  feel 13 (so awkward meeting new people), so I just didn't imagine I would find myself being the grumpy old killjoy of the neighborhood.

But. . . (and you knew this was coming). . . I was driving by the school today, and I saw a group of 12-14-year-old kids gathered around the homebase of the baseball field, and there was one kid climbing all the way to the top of the chain-link fence that guards spectators from flyballs. (What is that fence called?  I want to say "dugout", but I know that's wrong.)  Instantly, I stopped my minivan (Minivan?  Grumpy old mom clue #1.) and looked out my window at the kids.  They noticed me and looked back, somewhat cowed by the adult watching them.  (Cowing kids?  Grumpy old mom clue #2.)  They said something to the kid on top of the fence (20 feet up!  I would want someone else's mom to stop my kid if she was doing something that dumb.  Saying that last sentence?  Grumpy old mom clue #3.) , and he started climbing down, casually, but watching me the whole time, obviously willing me to just drive away and go about my business.  But I didn't (Grumpy old mom clue #4).  I stayed, ignoring that awkward feeling of the kids glancing over in my direction even as they tried to pretend I wasn't there.  I waited until his two teenage feet were planted firmly on the ground, and then I smiled and waved at the kids and drove away.  But even as my hipster self was humiliated at the spectacle my neighborhood watchdog self had just made of us, my inner curmudgeon wanted to turn around at the next stop sign and make sure that rascally kid hadn't tried to climb the fence again.  What is happening to me?

5 comments:

Lyle said...

I think you mean backstop. Another mom ruining the fun of a bunch of kids. Was he going after a ball that got caught there?

adventure knitter said...

I was waiting for the point where you said that they were dealing drugs or something... And I hope you're there the day that it's my son doing something dumb like that. I feel weird telling the kids at the bus stop to tame it down. They probably think i'm the cranky mom.

I turn 30 this month and I was talking with a girl at church about Prom (it was this weekend) and I went to junior prom 13 years ago! that makes me feel old....)

Dave said...

since when is climbing a fence dangerous? It has plenty of holds and could hardly be classified as "doing something stupid."

Emilee said...

Dave, as one of the Anderson boys, I hardly think you are qualified to dictate which things should be classified as stupid. And he was climbing on the underneath portion of the fence that slants over the homebase. However, that's partially my point. I turned into a curmudgeon over someone climbing a fence? Since when am I the person that does that?

cowbell kelly said...

I would ask how many broken bones and stitches have happened to the Anderson boys and how many were Dave's.