We liberated TeenHer from the pokey last night after our grueling family session. (“um- sorry to interrupt, but do you guys always talk to each other so calmly?” said the 30-something MSW counselor, who was very obviously a stoner and who had to keep from laughing when I said “I’m going to be honest, I’m for the legalization of pot. I just don’t want her smoking it while she’s on bi-polar meds”)
We stopped by Costco because it seemed like we were at least a hundred dollars too rich and what else do you do after you pick your kid up from the nuthouse? Paul Rudd dopelganger (of the famous bi-annual Page-Luft fight about oversharing in the blog) was there ringing people up at the snack bar. He had on a hair net which reduced his attractiveness by about a thousand percent.
After TeenHer kissed the floor of her room for a while and reveled in being allowed to get up from her seat whenever she wanted, she had a minor panic attack about how this will all affect her high school career and her chance at academic scholarships and what kind of jobs she’ll be able to get with all this horror on her Permanent Record. One thing I can tell you is that when I was 14 and crazy, I did not ever one time think about the long term ramifications of the shit I went through. So she’s a step ahead of me there, and if we can get her to consider these consequences BEFORE the actions, I think we’ll be OK.
Seriously though, what 14 year old thinks “how will this affect my chances at an academic scholarship?” when she’s being screamed at by a staff member and is about to lose her temper? I’m not even sure I know many 30 year olds who do that.
So we’re really just trying to get her to give herself a break already, and let us handle the school and scholarships and stuff.
I made her a playlist called “mom therapy” and when we picked her up the first thing I gave her was her Ipod. She’s been listening to the Once soundtrack nonstop and I’m rediscovering very much I love both the album and the movie. Literally whenever I hear the music tears come to my eyes.
“Raise your hopeful voice
you have a choice”
If you haven’t seen the movie and don’t own the music, I require you to do both, right now.