Teenagitis

In order to prevent middle-aged adults from enjoying life, God created teenagers.They are by design created to question all all authority, any type of reason and basiclogic. They also seem to want to call attention to their parents by participating in any kind of behaviour that civilized society would either frown on or be annoyed with or both.

After feeding, clothing, educating and bonding with another human being for over ten years, one would expect to see some type of emotion displayed at their presence other than embarrasement.

I guess I am partly responsible for the hair that is all wrong and the body that is disproportioned, (at least that’s what I’ve been told) but I am also responsible for the teeth that have been straightened, the contacts, the missing tonsils, the set bones, the driver’s license, the musical instrument in the closet and countless hours of heeding the cries of “Watch me Daddy! Watch me!”

Years ago, when I was barely not a teenager myself. I thought it would be fun to have lots of children. Now I’m older, wiser and not so sure. I did some figuring and found out that teenagers will live with me and my wife for 18 years. We can expect a year off between July of 1998 and October of 1999 before the last ten years begin. We are planning a cruise to capture all the magic of that inbetween year.

From the sweetness of the delivery room to the night at the band concert where my daughter convinced us that “everyone is changing clothes after the concert,” we lived in bliss. When we saw our daughter, laughing and surrounded by her friends and their disbelieving parents in a wild outfit with spiked hair and two pair of sunglasses, we came of age.

But, the last laugh is coming. Now I’m beginning to see the joy of grandparenting. Yes, it won’t be long before I echo the words of my father when I say to my grandchildren. “Don’t listen to them. You are allowed to do whatever you want, at grandpa’s house.”