eve of election 2006

Well, it's finally that time. And the news stations are going nuts, practically doing exit polls already. That's ok, because I'm already prepared for the news that the liberal left has won it all, although I do hold out some hope that rational America will show up at the polls to do their part. With it being a mid-term election, though and the forecast in this region is for rain, I don't know. I can only pray at this point.

My oldest stepdaughter has done it again, turning someone eles'e tragedy into her own personal drama. Now the two boys killed in that wreck the other night--see prior entries--were her best friends and no one understands what she has been going through. Now before you blast me for being insensitive: The topic was only brought up after her dad had nailed her to the wall for other actions of hers that she had already been told to cease and desist on. Suddenly no one understood her, that she had had a horrible week because of this wreck, etc. Her dad pretty well told her to stifle it, mainly because she said the same thing last spring when two girls from her class were killed in a wreck, and the year before when a girl from her school was shot to death along with her prom date from the neighboring high school, after they were in the wrong place at the wrong time by their choice. They were all her best friends. I grant you she may have known them, but since none of these kids names were ever mentioned by her to any of us until something happened, we have our doubts as to how close they were. I don't doubt the tragedy of it all, I just doubt that any of the reasons behind any of it will sink in to her thick skull.

Apparently I'm not the only one with this trouble--a neighbor of mine has a daughter the same age at the same school, and she is persisting in learning her lessons the hard way too. And she has given her mom the same stories about the best friends thing after each of these incidents. So now I'm also left to wonder---was my generation just as hard headed in our day as these kids are today? My mom says I have always been stubborn--wonder where I get it from?Hmmmm----and I know I was, but I also had parents who were responsible enough to keep me reined in as needed. I wasn;'t allowed to take the car and run around at will. Heck they usually took me to my dances and picked me up from them. I won;t say they knew all my friends and their parents, but the effort was made, and they darn sure knew who I was with and why and where we were going to be until when, etc. I have already told my kids that they can hate me or not, but that is how I am going to be too. To the absolute best of my ability. I can do no less, and still be a responsible parent.

And that is what I am--a parent. Not a buddy or friend with my kids, although we have our buddy-buddy times, and as they get older, we can interact kind of as friends, but I am still MOM first and foremost. I look forward to being friends with them when they are older and going through all the adult experiences that would give us some common ground. But my job is to parent them until they get to that point. They don;t always understand that but I catch glimpses sometimes that show me that they respect that. And besides, I can always be the bad guy--the one to blame when they don;t want to do something or do something with their friends because of the risk of trouble being too great. My oldest son has done that since he was first asked out on a date by a girl in his class--in 6TH GRADE!! He just told her that it was his mom's thing that he not date just yet, sorry. Saved face for him and put the onus on me---and he knew that I wouldn't let him go out on a date at age 11. And he didn;t lie. He didn't have to "let her down easy" or anything, just had to say hey my mom won;'t let me.