When I was about fourteen years old, two my friends and I
decided we wanted to go see Alice in Wonderland at the movies. My one friends
mom drove us to there, but after she left she realized she couldn’t come back
to pick us up. My other friend called her parents, and they were at work or
something like that, so they couldn’t pick us up either.
What you need to understand is that I never liked to call my
parents for a ride or anything like that. One reason was because I was afraid
my friends would make fun of me because my mom and dad are really kind of
strange. The second reason is because I was always kind of afraid that my
parents wouldn’t like my friends that much. So fear is what kept that from
happening, until the day we got stranded at the movie theater.
I was their last hope, otherwise we would be stuck at the
movie theater for a couple of extra hours with nothing to do, and none of us
wanted to do that. We also didn’t know about movie hopping until we were about
16, so that didn’t cross our minds either. So I had no choice but to call my
mom and ask for a ride. Lucky for me (and I say that with a heavy dose of
sarcasm) both my mom and my dad were at the store and would be picking us up
together.
One parent was bad enough, but two is just overwhelming.
They ooze embarrassment and feed off of one another when they are together. Not
to mention this was one of the first times my friends were actually meeting
good old mom and dad. I was really nervous about what this car ride would look
like.
The movie ends and I get a call from my mom telling me they
are there to get us. My two friends and I get into the car, and I introduce
everyone to each other as we start our thirty minute adventure home. The car ride
goes pretty smoothly until my mother decides to turn on the radio, which just
happened to be the 80’s station. I forget what song it was, but out of no where
my parents just started jamming. And when I say jamming, I mean music so loud
that we couldn’t talk to each other and screaming along to the words with all
they had in them.
Talk about an embarrassing moment for a 14 year old girl.
And if you can’t relate, just think about the most embarrassing moment you’ve
ever had and that’s close enough.
A few years later at a sleepover I remember having a
conversation about that day. My friends told me they thought my parents were so
cool after that day, and they thought it was hilarious and a ton of fun, so I
guess my most embarrassing moment made my friends think my parents were really
cool.
What I learned from that experience is that we all think our
parents are embarrassing, but all of our friends think they’re really cool. So
from that moment on I decided I was just going to deal with who my parents were,
and have fun with them. It’s better to embrace the awkward moments than it is
to sit around and be awkward with them, because then it just makes a bad
experience for everyone else around you.
I don’t know what type of people read my blog, but if you’re
a teenager in high school you probably experience a lot of situations like
mine. Embrace them. Your friends love your parents strange-ness and they even
think you’re cool. So don’t over look your mom and dad’s ability to boost your
popularity.
