Blog Archive

Nothing Like Living in the Moment and Being All Zen Like - OR NOT!

So we drive to my sister's house for Thanksgiving Dinner. 19 year old Kevin yells, "Shotgun" barreling out the front door (which means, "I get the front seat") and the defeated Kelly, 16, takes her place in the back seat of the car begrudgingly and all pouty with the body language crap. We're off to just a GREAT start with the pissiness already.

But I wasn't going to let it affect me. I refrained from the usual, "Ummm, what are you, 7?" I was in a good mood.

So I'm enjoying my adult contemporary music and driving, when Kev whips out a Modest Mouse CD and slips in it to play, which lasted all of 30 seconds and I pushed the eject button. "Let's compromise," I said. So I pushed a few of the radio buttons to find something we all might like, and he was all irritated.

"Look... here's Pink Floyd, you love Pink Floyd..." I turned the volume up.

He said, "Oh that's just great, the song's half over, which means in another minute we'll all be in hell again when a bad song comes on next."

For some reason, his response struck me as completely hilarious in a sick, sad, pathetic way... the irony of it all... what this shallowness is that afflicts us all, when my God people have REAL LIFE STUFF to be upset about... and how there is the requirement for deliberate focus on embracing moments of joy instead of viewing the future with some grim forecast. After I laughed at the silliness of Kevin's complaint, we talked about what's REALLY important. We need these reminders!

Geeze, it's THANKSGIVING, for crying out loud!

4 comments:

Jilly said...

you're so much nicer than my mom. my mom would have made them both ride in the backseat with dire warnings of getting the spoon out if she heard a peep. by 19, i knew not to touch the radio button in her car. Hell, at 28, I still wouldn't touch the radio button in her car. i think the best thing my mom ever did for me was to give me a CD walkman and batteries when i was a teenager. therefore, your kids should be thankful they live with a mom that's cool enough to allow them the freedoms they have, because i'm quite sure my mom would have beat the shit out of them with something, like her giant wooden spoon, by the time dinner was placed on the table. i'm really glad that mine isn't old enough to complain about much. i hope the rest of the day was good.
jilly

Brenda said...

ahh teenage angst. good luck. i don't miss those days at all. sometimes i wonder how i survived it.

Anonymous said...

Don't you just love teenagers? *rolls eyes*

Anonymous said...

In my family we have a simple rule - whoever is driving controls the music. Period. When drunk, my step-father once violated that rule, and well - let's just say he didn't like the consequence.

Followers


Get a playlist! Standalone player Get Ringtones