Busy weekend. Our 5th anniversary, Steve's 30th high school reunion and a 70th birthday party for one of Sofia's pseudo grandmas.
I remember back when I was wild-single-girl-Melissa, at the height of my kinship with all things Bridget Jones and Carrie Bradshaw, there were people described in "Bridge Jones Diary" as the Smug Marrieds. These were the people who were so happily married and didn't let you forget for a minute how much better their lives were from yours and Ohhhhhhow they didn't miss being single. This weekend, I was inundated with the Smug Teen's Parents. So happy to be past diapers and bottles and boy, don't envy you ONE bit! I get a lot of this at work from my co-workers, but between the reunion (where everyone was in their late 40's) and the party I attended yesterday (40's, 50's, 60's) I was just hitting the wall on the Smug Teen's Parent Contingent.
The reunion was fun, but the shock value of the fact that we have the youngest kids of all Steve's contemporaries got old after about the 15th time of "HOW OLD ARE YOUR KIDS???" Most of the attendees have college/high school age children, so upon hearing that we had little ones, the immediate reaction was universal; the huge eye bulge and near choking on their appetizer, followed by excited slaps on the back, immediately followed by the elbow in the rib and cries of "Oh, I don't envy you!!" or "You sure have your hands full!" (Ya think?) The whole scenario was finished off with tales of how much harder it will be when they get to high school. I was describing the boys' love of climbing the furniture and immediately told "Oh, that's the EASY part! Wait until you have multiples activities to drive them to, homework and attitudes!" I know what they are saying is true, but it's kind of of like saying to a pregnant woman "Oh wait until the baby is born!! You think this is hard? HA! Wait until your nipples are bleeding and you're counting sleep in minutes rather than hours!! That's when the fun really begins!" You don't have any concept of reality for the future challenges, so why do people insist on throwing them at you like cold water?
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3 comments:
Hi Melissa! Wow, I mistook that! I thought the 16 year old pregnant girls were now being smug! :-0
I'm all about 'enjoy the ride,' though of course it's easier to do some days than others. Shame on them for throwing cold water on you!
I saw that and thought hmmm...that does sound a little different than I am intending...so I changed it to possessive. :)
Ah, the joys of being an "older" parent. I get those kinds of comments from time to time too. Although I had one mom finally admit that she missed this young stage, so I have to wonder if there isn't something else going on there too. Hard to say. Sure is irritating though, isn't it?
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