These Rose Colored Glasses...

Maybe it's birth order, I don't know, but the two remaining kids are not anything like the one that left.  Let's start with Tyler....First of all, he broke his phone last week, and now that he has money, he doesn't want to spend it on a new phone.  So, he gets a used phone for free from his girlfriend and pays the activation fee.  Less than 1 week with his "new" phone, it gets stolen.  He had it in his locker during football practice, and he said his locker was locked.  I asked him how someone could steal a phone if the locker was locked, and he said that the lock sometimes falls open.  I think it's user error.  Anyhow, this morning he leaves for school, I drop him off, drive home, and he texts me saying that it's picture retake day today and he wants retakes and could I drive back to school to bring him his grey tee-shirt.  "How do you know your first pictures turned out bad?"  I ask.  "Because I'm looking at them and I'm all bruised from the football game the day before."  Why he has his pictures and I've never seen them, and how picture retakes are scheduled for today with no advance notice, I don't know.  At least this wasn't as bad as last week, when I returned from work and the store and got home at 7pm and he said, "Oh, I need a German dessert for my class by tomorrow morning."  and "It has to be home-made."  (I still haven't gotten the pan back from my "home-made" boxed German chocolate cake...)  Is all this "middle child syndrome?"

Then, there's the third child, who I am no longer allowed to call "the baby."  I am actually fearful of calling her anything because of her quickness to anger toward me.  Last weekend, for example, she told me that she and her friends dressed up as cows and walked in the Beef-A-Rama parade.  "Oh, that's cute," I innocently said.  "Thanks for ruining it for me.  I wish I never would have told you," was her reply to me.  Okaaayyy....

And, don't even get me started on how hard it is to get either kid to do the dishes.  I think they'd rather live in a pig-sty and eat off the dirty floor then spend 20 minutes cleaning the kitchen.  Plus, each of them keeps telling me they "did it last week."  Wow, they are so overworked it's ridiculous!

Anyhow, they say you never remember the bad things, only the good.  Maybe that's why I'm looking back at Kayla's years living here and finding it hard to remember her doing those same things.  Although, if I really think hard enough, I know we had those same battles and trials (and probably worse), and we still have the hole in the basement wall to prove it:>

A Realization

So, talk about spontaneity. Saturday night a couple friends and I were like, "We miss our old friends in La Crosse! Coincidentally, Oktoberfest (ie: the biggest party in the Midwest right now) is happening in La Crosse tonight! Let's go!" After an exhausting afternoon spent dialing every contact in our phones who may possibly own a car, calling car rental places, and thus, realizing nobody will rent a car to three 18-year olds with no established credit, we got lucky and found a few people who had a vehicle and were down to go to LAX anyway! Meeting up with one of my best friends (that's us in the pic) right away when we got there was such an amazing feeling, and I realized that even though we hadn't seen each other in a month, nothing has changed, especially our strong and crazy friendship. She still runs like a goon. :)

You know what was a little strange though? I didn't have to approve this trip with the parents. I didn't have to go through the interview questions of "Who's driving?" "What time will you be back?" "What are you going to do there?" "Where are you sleeping?" I simply texted Mom when we were passing through Winona and said, "En route to LAX!" Of course, being all mother-ly and whatnot, she responded with "Be careful. But have fun!" And that was that! Of course I fill in my parents on what's been going on in my life at college, but it was just a strange realization, that I can really almost do whatever I want whenever I want now! Thankfully, they raised me well enough to know not to elope with some random guy I've known for like a week or to just stop caring and skip class all the time, I want to make them proud and be successful! So yes, college is spontaneous and independent, but the values and goals from back home will always keep me on track.

(By the way, my friend in La Crosse gave me a few of the most recent issues of our local newspaper. I just read them and I see that this columnist said "Wa-la" instead of "Voila." Again. Come on people, really?

Maybe I should be an editor...)