All of our children are interesting in their own ways, with idiosyncrasies that drive us crazy and make us wonder if perhaps we picked up the wrong bassinet at some point during our brief hospital stay so many years ago. But then we notice that they have a very strong resemblance to the both of us -- and to some of our relatives -- and we sigh and accept the fact that they are simply doing the same thing to us that we did to our parents. Attempt to drive us crazy so they can put us in a home and inherit all our money and live lives of riotous abandon until they run out of money and then come crawling back to beg our forgiveness and ... wait a minute. Haven't I heard that story somewhere before?
Mary is about to reach one of those "magic" ages of youth which should probably be marked with a huge party and a new car. But we aren't that kind of family, and she really isn't that kind of girl. When we asked her what she wanted for this Most Significant Birthday, she rattled off a list that went something like: "Well, I need money for {this} and money for {that} and money for {some other thing}, so why don't you just give me a bunch of money and that'll take care of it?" -- and being the kind of parents we are, we said, "Sure!" (while thinking "Whew!" in our heads) because our family is all about reducing the anxiety caused by an overabundance of choices. Especially when gift-giving is involved.
So tomorrow when she reaches that Golden Age of Youth (right before the Bronze Age of Get A Job and the Tin Age of Please Move Out of My House), she will be showered with money (mostly dollar bills because we're very cheap) so that she can go to the Mall and buy stuff. Which would be much easier if her Aunt Jan was here to help her. Because they both like shopping, apparently. And her parents just aren't into that sort of thing. Unless it involves Joanne Fabrics or Radio Shack. (So we're thinking of shipping her down to Abilene for her 18th birthday so she and Jan can just go crazy.)
Our family tradition is that the birthday person gets to pick out where or what we're going to eat, and Mary has chosen a nice little sushi place over by the grocery store. She likes sushi. For this, you can blame her brother, James, who introduced us all to this place. And, incidentally, is good friends with the son of the proprietors. In fact, when he was still stateside, we would go with him over to the sushi place and get free stuff because the proprietors liked James. And he used to eat there often.
Now I'm getting hungry.
Best part is, we don't have to worry about making anything at home. And no clean-up!
Mary is about to reach one of those "magic" ages of youth which should probably be marked with a huge party and a new car. But we aren't that kind of family, and she really isn't that kind of girl. When we asked her what she wanted for this Most Significant Birthday, she rattled off a list that went something like: "Well, I need money for {this} and money for {that} and money for {some other thing}, so why don't you just give me a bunch of money and that'll take care of it?" -- and being the kind of parents we are, we said, "Sure!" (while thinking "Whew!" in our heads) because our family is all about reducing the anxiety caused by an overabundance of choices. Especially when gift-giving is involved.
So tomorrow when she reaches that Golden Age of Youth (right before the Bronze Age of Get A Job and the Tin Age of Please Move Out of My House), she will be showered with money (mostly dollar bills because we're very cheap) so that she can go to the Mall and buy stuff. Which would be much easier if her Aunt Jan was here to help her. Because they both like shopping, apparently. And her parents just aren't into that sort of thing. Unless it involves Joanne Fabrics or Radio Shack. (So we're thinking of shipping her down to Abilene for her 18th birthday so she and Jan can just go crazy.)
Our family tradition is that the birthday person gets to pick out where or what we're going to eat, and Mary has chosen a nice little sushi place over by the grocery store. She likes sushi. For this, you can blame her brother, James, who introduced us all to this place. And, incidentally, is good friends with the son of the proprietors. In fact, when he was still stateside, we would go with him over to the sushi place and get free stuff because the proprietors liked James. And he used to eat there often.
Now I'm getting hungry.
Best part is, we don't have to worry about making anything at home. And no clean-up!
1 comment:
sounds like a great way to celebrate the birthday-no mess in the kitchen and no gifts to return. I can hardly believe my youngest grandchild has turned 16.
But now that Kelly and Laura are engaged-who knows-perhaps there will be another grandchild in a few years.
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