Being 13

The boy was planning to attend his first all-school dance at a neighboring independent school last night. He had been talking about for a couple of days. So there we were last night about 7:00 pulling up to the school, and suddenly he was getting cold feet saying he didn’t want to go after all. And we were telling him that he should take a chance, that he would have a good time. His mother compared it to riding a roller coaster (which we all love), there is that first big hill, that is frightening as you go up it, but it is very exciting when you crest the top of the hill. He wasn’t buying it. His protest grew louder and more strained and we pulled in the parking and saw the unfamiliar kids streaming in. “Turn around. Go home. I am not going. Mom, please lets just go home, I can’t do this!” We were just about to do just that; there is no point in torturing the boy if he really was that frightened. Just at that moment we arrived at the drop off point, and his mother said, “look in front of us, its Tyler and Arie.” Sure enough, two of his best friends from school were getting out of the car in front of us. From the back seat came, “Stop the car. Unlock the doors, hurry!” And he was out on the sidewalk in a flash.

I have never seen as an abrupt a turn-around in emotions in my life. It must be a part of being 13. His mother and I had a good laugh about and drove off to have a nice dinner at a little Thai-Cambodian restaurant that we like.

We picked him up at 9:30 when the dance was over, and he claims to have had a good time, but he didn’t go into much more detail than that.


Did I mention that he has the Lead in the school musical? he will be playing the Baker in their production of Into the Woods. More on that later, this is a big challenge for him, and he has only had small parts in the past.