Our eldest daughter is a lovely girl, but a bit of a princess. She loves her horse but is a bit fussy over when she rides, it can't be windy, it can't be cold, it can't be muddy, there can't be an "R" in the month etc etc. When the stars align and the conditions are right, she usually has homework. Consequently she hadn't been out to the stables for a while.
This past weekend, Lindsay was in the bathroom when the rest of us left for the barn, calling out goodbye as we departed, concluding she wasn't interested in joining us. When Lindsay emerged we were gone. Knowing how I don't like to be kept waiting, and will often pretend to leave by driving around the block, she assumed I had done it again. She sat out on the front doorstep for 20 minutes before realising we weren't coming back. We copped an earful when we arrived home over an hour later. Tears, runny nose, hand wringing, (hormones), all in all an Oscar worthy performance. Rob felt terrible, but I'm sorry to say I just laughed. I dunno, maybe I'm just sympathy deficient.
It wasn't the first time Lindsay has had to deal with abandonment issues. One day after a swim meet she had asked me to pick her up from school. I arrived as the bus was offloading it's passengers. No sign of Lindsay, and I had left my phone behind. I sat and waited, but finally decided I must have missed her and drove back home. She wasn't there, but the phone was ringing, it was my husband. "Where are you ?" he asked (I don't like to state the obvious but if he is calling the house phone and I answer, determining my location from that isn't rocket science ... just saying). "Why didn't you pick up Lindsay ?" I explained I was there, she wasn't. It turned out that she had gone to her locker to get her stuff and exited the building just in time to see the my van leaving the parking lot. Thinking I was doing it to wind her up (that she can believe this, really doesn't say much for me as a parent) so she legged down the road after me. Then when I didn't stop, she ratted me out to her father. That evening it was all over twitter & Facebook, about how I'd driven off and left her. I tried to apologize, I really did, but I think the laughter belied the sincerity of my words. It was days before she'd speak to me again, but you know with a teen that isn't always such a bad thing!.
I happened to be telling my friend Helene this story tonight, and she told me I'm missing the sensitivity gene. I think she may be on to something.
No comments:
Post a Comment