Almost daily diary!

Thursday, November 01, 2012

The Party

Tall Girl is excited. She has a party to go to. She lives a quiet life really -thankfully- and party's are not run of the mill, yet. She has been planning her outfit for days, no weeks, and at 3.30pm she starts to get ready, the party is not until 7.30.

At intervals I am called upstairs for a fashion second opinion as well as to help with crimping the back of her hair; I am aware these are special moments to treasure and I will.

Later she comes down stairs fully made up and ready to roll. She looks fantastic, false eyelashes and all - she has been saving these for a special event - Sweet Sixteen is only 9 days away.

 My job, obviously, is to play taxi driver. We leave home at seven and pick up one friend before driving out of town. I am conscious to stay fairly quiet and leave them to their conversation, the rule has not been stated but it hangs in the air.

Within 20 minutes I have dropped them off. It is a house party, no boys have been mentioned and parents are at home. She is due in after 11pm, however she has managed to secure a lift, which is a relief.

We drive home, Small Sprog and I, "It's just you and I now" I chirrup
"Hooray" he says less than enthusiastically!

During the evening I resist texting her to see if she's having a good time and just hope that she is instead. I also try not to fall asleep and the TV, as usual, is not providing any material to aid the situation. Then, just as I become riveted to a fairly basic documentary, there is a knock at the door. She is home.

I wave off the parent who brought her home and welcome Tall Girl in, she looks exhausted but is chatty, very chatty, and very slightly slurred. She confesses to having some Smirnoff Ice. I am not cross, but puzzled as to where it had come from. Apparently some of the girls came with alcohol that their parents had provided. Tall Girl is nearly sixteen but most of her friends are still 15 until spring or summer next year. Am I being prudish I ask myself inwardly as she babbles on excitedly? I think back. I was drinking at sixteen, I was working at sixteen too and I can remember thinking, at that age, that I was now an adult.

"I knew they would have alcohol" she says "But I didn't think you'd let me go if I'd told you" I assured her I would have but would have asked her to be careful. Instead we had the same, 'be careful' conversation before she went to sleep. She is reasonably sensible and I will talk to her again today, when she emerges.

So, it was gone midnight by the time we both got to bed. At 2am Small Sprogs alarm went off! Something to do with him taking out the batteries earlier in the day in an act of desperation to make some electronic device or another work. It takes a while to work out what is making the noise and I nearly walk into his room naked in my dazed and confused state. He is sitting on his bed looking puzzled "I can't turn it off" he sighs. I sort it out and return to bed. Never mind, it is Half Term, no need for an early morning. A lie in is definitely on the cards.

At 8am this morning Bristol Water start to dig a hole in the road just outside our house. Tall Girls room faces the street. We all stagger out of bed and look out of the window, muttering profanities under our respective breaths. Divine retribution? Tall Girl looks like something from Michael Jackson's 'Thriller' video and I have to remind myself that Halloween is now over. I make a mental note to have a talk to her about make-up remover and skin care at some point.

The cat runs up and down the landing as the vibrations confuse his dementia and it begins to dawn on me that this might be a very long day.

17 comments:

Maggie May said...

Love the eyelashes.
I'm sure that Tall Girl is very sensible.
I was also working at sixteen.

Bristol Water have caused chaos to our main roads and luckily, after weeks of walking through mud and taking life in hands to cross when crossings have been dug up..... they are moving up the road leaving many patched up places.

Hope your lovely cat survives the fireworks. My poor rabbits need a lot of reassurance when they go off for weeks on end.
Maggie X

Nuts in May

nick said...

Oh dear, the morning after the night before! I suppose it's normal these days for 15 year olds to have a drink or two. Indeed, all you can do is explain what drinking might lead to and advise her to be very careful.

I love the eyelashes too! I love the little beads.

Steve said...

I was always a complete wallflower at parties as a teenager and secretly found them an ordeal. It took me years to learn how to relax enough to actually be able to enjoy myself.

Rob-bear said...

Well, you all survived, which is the main thing. (I'm trusting the old cat is doing well at this point.)

Since it is half term, you may all get to relax, just a bit.

BTW, picture of TG is awesome.

NitWit1 said...

Things have changed. I never tasted an alcoholic beverage until I was in college and 21. At that state food was firmly established as my 'drug' of choice, so taste played a huge deterrent in keeping be a teetotaler and non-smoker for a lifetime.

Halloween was not as huge an event in my small town as it has developed into these days.
Lovw rhw eye lashes.

Anonymous said...

This is a great blog post Sub. I can't imagine that many parents aren't sympathetic to your story. Yes, drinking mmm. We all did it but we desperately don't want our children to. I think you can only do the best you can to guide them once they are teens, and you seem to have been doing an excellent job at this (not sure i did). My youngest got drunk about a year ago on holiday with her mum, and then had to go on a dolphin watching boat the next morning with a hangover - hasn't drink since.

The 2nd part of your post is very funny. Sometimes we are just not going to get a goods nights sleep no matter what!

Suburbia said...

Thanks Dicky :-)
Dont get much time to write these days, I miss it.

Jennysmith said...

Super post, my sweet. Really well written about the milestone in Tall Girl's life.

My Daugther, a year older, never goes to any parties. Only the prom thing at school. She doesn't seem remotely interested but I secretly wish she would be!

Yes, at 16, I knew most of the pubs in the area and Dubonnet and Lemonade was my tipple! xxxx

Suburbia said...

Good to hear from you Jenny :-)

Suburbia said...

Luckily Maggie he is as deaf as a post!

Suburbia said...

Me too. Not sure I've got it sorted yet!

Suburbia said...

Still seems so young though Nick!

Suburbia said...

Thanks Bear

Suburbia said...

Thanks Nitwit

Looking for Blue Sky said...

Loved this as went through it all with my 20 year old - I really think that a lot of today's young wans are more sensible than we are! I expect that is a good thing x

Rose said...

I love the way you tell a story, Suburbia! I am so glad now that my children are grown. I remember those teenage years and the parties they were invited to. I always warned my kids about the consequences of drinking at that age, but I also told them that they could call me for a ride home--any time of night. Still, I worried every time they went out.

Liz Hinds said...

Oh I remember those days. No, I won't scare you ...