Pulling Teeth

Meri had a Jazz Band contest last night in a town about an hour away.  Of course, Robb and I attended!  It was a HUGE auditorium but only parents of the performing students were there besides the judges, so you could sit absolutely anywhere.

 

 

Of course, she saw us.  

 

But was she going to smile for me?  no.

 

Still no.

 

  

And yet again, no.

She avoided even looking our way.

 

After their set was done, the judges came on stage and gave them tips for improvement.  

 

THEY were able to get her to smile!  

 

So I couldn't pass up the opportunity to capture that!

 

Why is it so hard to get genuine smiles from a teenager?

It tastes GOOD!!!

When I was fourteen, I got my learners permit to drive.  You could also drive a moped with that permit...  So in the following spring, I bought a yellow moped off my older sister who had just turned 16 and had just bought a car.  She gave me a pretty good deal, I thought, and even threw in the helmet which was a little too small for me, but I didn't care.

That spring and summer were the best ever!!!  I had SUCH independence!  I had a job cleaning houses and then working in a nursing home kitchen to support my biker habit.  Each tank of gas cost less than a dollar...

One thing I noticed was a little switch under the seat, that if you were running low on gas, you could kick it into the reserve tank.  And when you did that, the moped was suddenly able to go about 5 miles per hour faster!  Then when it started sputtering, you just leaned down and flipped it back to the regular tank.  Voila!  and in a little bit switch it back to reserve...

I drove my moped to work, school, drivers ed that summer.  It was a great mode of transportation!  Living in a city where everything was at least a 10 minute drive, it really came in handy!

Mine was actually all yellow.  And my helmet was blue.

I loved the feel of the wind in my face!  Tried not to drive at night because of bugs in my face.  And I was afraid of the dark anyway...  Stopping at a stop sign would spook me. 

Good thing I didn't watch zombie tv shows then!

My dad's only real rule with the moped was that I always wear long pants and tennis shoes along with the helmet when driving.  We lived on a gravel road... So one day, I wanted to go tooling around up to a state park up the road a couple miles.  I came around a corner, hit a pile of gravel and wiped out.

Wouldn't you just know it...  this was the one day I disobeyed my dad...  (Well... that I'll admit to!)  I had worn shorts and Dr. Scholl sandals. You know!  The wooden ones with a leather strap over the top of your foot!  I did wear the helmet tho!

My knee was cut and roughed up pretty bad.  I drove the moped home *slowly*, blood dripping down into my toes of the sandals.  I limped into the lower level of the house where my bedroom and bathroom was, undetected.  Got all cleaned up and put on long pants and shoes to hide the damage then went upstairs to supper, trying to walk as normally as possible.  I pulled it off!  Told them a year later.

Then the summer when I turned 16, I drove it up that same park again.  I lived in very hilly western Iowa and the parks maze of roads was up and down and curvy.  awesome!  If I had been into skate boards, I'm sure I would have broken many bones on those roads!

As I puttered up one of the roads, my chariot suddenly sputtered and died.  I had to push it up the rest of the hill, out of the park and down the gravel road to home.  One guy in a convertible did stop and ask if I needed a ride somewhere.  But there was no way my moped would fit in the back seat and I really didn't think my parents would think that was ok...  It was the early 80s!  Hitchin' A Ride had only been on the radio a few short years before!

Dad took a look at it when he had some time and said that I'd run it out of oil.  The pistons had ceased.;.. whatever THAT meant!  So I puttered with it.

That next week, my sister-in-law at the time's two brothers from Indiana were in town visiting!  They were cute.  Roughly my age.  I mentioned my dilemma and they offered to take a look at it for me!  COOL!  Got my friends jealous... ;)

Those two boys tore the moped apart!  Parts everywhere.  It really looked like they knew what they were doing!  I took them lemonade and hung out around the garage, trying my best to look like a very thankful damsel in distress... and talking with them.

A few days passed.  Suddenly the day came when they didn't stop by again.  I called my brother to find out where they were.  Apparently they had left to go home and didn't mention it to me...

My dad was pretty furious that they'd left all the parts sitting around.

Apparently they had no clue what they were doing either...  Aside from, of course, getting lemonade and fun chatter with a girl!

So anyway... the moped was no more.  I don't remember where it ended up but I never drove it again.  Luckily I was 16 by this time, so I bought a cheap car from someone at church.  Oh!  I wrote a story about that once upon a time too.

What was your first *taste* of freedom?!

Only the BEST ingredients!

As a parent, our kids have come up to us and asked to see a certain movie or buy a certain cd that they know we won't approve of. My husband found this story once and used it on our kids. Maybe when your kids hit their teen years, if they haven't already... you can use a story like this too!

Dad's brownies
*****

A father of some teenage children had the family rule that they could not attend PG-13 or R rated movies. His three teens wanted to see a particular popular movie that was playing at local theaters. It was rated PG-13.

The teens interviewed friends and even some members of their family's church to find out what was offensive in the movie. The teens made a list of pros and cons about the movie to use to convince their dad that they should be allowed to see it. The con's were that it contained ONLY 3 swear words, the ONLY violence was a building exploding (and you see that on TV all the time they said), and you actually did not "see" the couple in the movie having sex - it was just implied sex, off camera.

The pros were that it was a popular movie - a block buster. Everyone was seeing it. If the teens saw the movie then they would not feel left out when their friends discussed it. The movie contained a good story and plot. It had some great adventure and suspense in it. There were some fantastic special effects in this movie. The movie's stars were some of the most talented actors in Hollywood. It probably would be nominated for several awards.

Many of the members of their Christian church had even seen the movie and said it wasn't "very bad". Therefore, since there were more pros than cons the teens said they were asking their father to reconsider his position on just this ONE movie and let them have permission to go see it.

The father looked at the list and thought for a few minutes. He said he could tell his children had spent some time and thought on this request. He asked if he could have a day to think about it before making his decision. The teens were thrilled thinking; "Now we've got him! Our argument is too good! Dad can't turn us down!" So, they happily agreed to let him have a day to think about their request.

The next evening the father called in his three teenagers, who were smiling smugly, into the living room. There on the coffee table he had a plate of brownies. The teens were puzzled. The father told his children he had thought about their request and had decided that if they would eat a brownie then he would let them go to the movie. But just like the movie, the brownies had pros and cons.

The pros were that they were made with the finest chocolate and other good ingredients. They had the added special effect of yummy walnuts in them. The brownies were moist and fresh with wonderful chocolate frosting on top. He had made these fantastic brownies using an award-winning recipe. And best of all, the brownies had been made lovingly by the hand of their own father.

The brownies only had one con. The father had included a little bit of a special ingredient. The brownies also contained just a little bit of dog poop. But he had mixed the dough well - they probably would not even be able to taste the dog poop and he had baked it at 350 degrees so any bacteria or germs from the dog poop had probably been destroyed.

Therefore, if any of his children could stand to eat the brownies which included just a "little bit of crap" and not be effected by it, then he knew they would also be able to see the movie with "just a little bit of smut" and not be effected.

Of course, none of the teens would eat the brownies and the smug smiles had left their faces. Only Dad was smiling smugly as they left the room.

Now when his teenagers ask permission to do something he is opposed to the father just asks, "Would you like me to whip up a batch of my special brownies?"

*****

Ok - It's back to me now - Val. So whenever the kids want to do or listen to something with a wee bit of poop in them, we ask them if we should try to scoop the poop or leave it well enough alone... And being the kids they are, sometimes they just dive in anyway... shoot.