Stupid is as stupid does...

ok.. in all fairness... my daughter doing something really stupid last weekend (underage drinking party-AGAIN) brought up the conversation:

L: C'mon mom, you can't tell me you didn't do this stuff when you were younger.
M: (tired of the same conversation over and over) Yea, only we never got caught.
L: See!!! It's not like it's never been done.
M: Times were a LOT different back then.
L: Back before dirt?
M: Did I mention you were grounded until Graduation?

And it's true... we all did stupid stuff when we were younger, including yours truly. Although, in my defense, I was usually the one who stayed sober "enough" to get everyone home. However, back then (barring the fact that my mom was a cop) the cops would just throw you into the back of the car and take you home to your parents in the middle of the night, frightening them and embarrassing them in front of the neighborhood while you puked all over the front lawn and the disco lights lit up the street for 5 houses in each direction. I know I was much more afraid of my dad than I was any old cop or judge. Now they just cuff ~n~ stuff ya, ticket ya and you show up in court. Statistics prove that underage drinking is on the rise. Maybe not so much that, as the fact that they are now documenting all of it.

So in the course of this conversation with her, I began thinking of the stupid stuff I did(alcohol related) when younger that I now wonder how I didn't get hurt or killed.

~*~ Hang out at an afterprom with a guy I knew from a neighboring school, his 4 friends and their 3 "dates".

~*~ Road parties, every weekend.

~*~ Driving home really buzzed from cruisin' with my friends - typically 40-50 miles

~*~ Going alone to a woods party where there were drugs and alcohol.

~*~ Riding around with my high school boyfriend who was always drunk on the weekends

~*~ Riding dirt bikes while partying

~*~ Drunk Twister

~*~ Pool parties

I know, I know... alcohol, water, machinery, unknown people... like I said, it's amazing I didn't get hurt or killed. I'm not proud of it. I've seen the wreckage of those who weren't so lucky. Some of whom I've known. I remember a classmate of mine being killed within just a few years of our graduation. I remember one of the guys who hung out with us in high school all the time was the one who found him. It was his best friend. He was never the same. I remember a good friend of mine's boyfriend wrapping himself around a tree outside town, her screaming running up the street, and the sight of that twisted Nova being pulled into town on a rolloff. It sat at the local garage for 3 days. A lot of people got sick looking at that car. He was a really nice guy. She was a really great girl. She was never the same.

So yes, kiddo, I did the stupid stuff. That doesn't mean it's ok. There were less people on the road back then, less harsh drugs available to those who partook, and it was just a different way of life. We also were allowed to have parties at our house, be underage, and not get sued for it. We "hosted" a lot of them. Keys in the basket, locked in my parents' bedroom, let your parents know where you were, and that was that. Not so today. Today, parents sue you for corrupting their poor, innocent little victim of a child that they do not want to believe would do something like that. Or the uncontrollable kids have their own parties and parents who are very law-abiding and wouldn't allow it STILL get sued or drug into court, even though they may not have been home at the time.

In a few years, when you have kids who have parties, or get that first 1:30am phone call to come pick your child up at the police station (no ma'am, she's not hurt, she is however under the influence, and being quite a handful. no ma'am, she's a juvenile, we can't keep her. yes ma'am, it's still illegal to kill her.) you will understand...

love
mom