Torment and Entertainment, Part 3

Every once in a while the freeloaders in your house surprise you. One recent incident involved one such freeloader who shall be called GirlChild. Last year GirlChild became a high school student. A student at one of the best schools in the Detroit metro area. A school where admission required surviving two separate weeding out processes. A school whose curriculum would make a lot of college students jealous. A school with graduation and college admittance rates in the high 90’s. A school that was brand new. A school that was free. A school that catered to her talents and goals. Somehow all of that was not enough. As with a lot of teenagers today, the really important stuff was not important at all. The stuff that was important was that the classes started later and that the whole experience be more fun than a barrel of monkeys. Those two things the school wasn’t. As a result punctuality and participation suffered.

One year later, and one transfer later, she is in the "neighborhood" high school. After one day she finds out that it is not anything like the previous school. More important she finds that it is even less fun than before and school still starts at the same time. She also realizes that the entire year of cussin’ and fussin’ we were "putting her through" was not so we could be mean to her, but to save her from making a gigantic mistake.

Yesterday she made it her number one priority to find her mother as soon as she possibly could. Why? Because GirlChild was moved to an apology. Her biggest fan and staunchest supporter is and always will be her mom. So I guess GirlChild felt she owed it to her mother to admit that she was wrong.

A sixteen year old admitting she was wrong. Call me surprised.