Dear Em,
I've been thinking about your letter (I'm calling them letters, not posts) and about being an embarrassing mom, and it makes me sad. For one thing, I wish I had been the kind of kid who was NOT embarrassed of her parents, but I remember being mortified to be with them in public in middle and high school. There is a certain story about the National Honor Society blood drive that still makes me cringe (bring it up sometime when I'm not there if you don't remember this one). I wish I had been less concerned about what my friends (really, the popular kids who were not my friends and wouldn't have been my friends even if Madonna and Michael Jordan were my parents) thought and more concerned with my relationship with our parents. I would have spared myself, and the world at large, from some truly embarrassing and regrettable behavior on my part. For another, I get the feeling from Isaac not that he thinks I'm embarrassing, but that I'm just boring and lame. I'm constantly losing out to Mike and his household in terms of coolness. They have better food, better TV, better entertainment, better pets, a better house, a better neighborhood, cooler friends (remember Keith?), and on and on and on. And I resent it. And I created the whole situation, and so I feel guilty for feeling angry with Mike and irritated with Isaac.
Anyway, in the end, we need to be proud of our lame, embarrassing selves. It's a sign that we're doing our jobs as parents. Secretly, Haley likes it that you stick up for her and protect her and cheer for her, regardless of how silly you look.
P.S. Please make this page look better. I chose the boringest layout there was (gah! see, I am boring and lame!)
Love,
Al
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