Sequestered with Teens; Day Four

Day Four. Right? Is it day four? I think my garbage came yesterday, so that would make today Friday. Ha… does it even matter? When I was in the shower this morning, Jesse asked what I was wearing to the office… oh ya know… yoga pants, sports bra, and a sweatshirt. I think everyone in the house should be grateful I decided to shower at least. Based on the lack of dirty towels in the house right now, I’m wondering what everyone else’s bathing habits have been for the last four days.

We had a family meeting. A mix of emotions. Apathy. Frustration. Sadness. Irritation. The situation sucks. Jesse and I have realized that we are just fine not leaving the house. That obviously speaks worlds of our everyday anti-social behavior. I am, however, so sad that our kids are stuck here. Don’t get me wrong. I would love love love our kids to be home with us every night. But for them to be trapped, forced to be home, with no access to their social lives… it sucks.

Anyone that read my Day Three post knows that my youngest little deviant tried to pull a fast one on her mother and went to see her boyfriend before work yesterday (a strictly forbidden no-no). I was hoping she’d come clean which would minimize her punishment. But she impressed and surprised me. She reads her mother’s blog! So, by the time we talked about her unfortunate choice, she already knew that I knew.

In typical teenage fashion, Alexis clearly does not appreciate me talking at her. So… knowing that she’s reading this… I’m going to write at her…

Alexis… you are the reason for the white hairs that are multiplying on my head, and for many tears that I’ve shed. You make choices I disagree with. Your attitude can be horrible and entitled. And yet… there is not one single thing you could do that would make me love you more or less. I KNOW that you will be successful in life and I need to accept that some of the lessons I want you to learn in the safety of our home won’t be learned until you are an adult on your own. And that’s ok. You are stubborn. I think that means that you won’t let life get the best of you. I know that many seeds have been planted in your life; selflessness, compassion, integrity, hard work… and I believe those traits will all blossom in time. I see glimpses of all those things at times. I also see a lot of me in you. You have no idea how much you are like me as a teenager. Did you know my nickname was Attitude? Maybe one day we can compare our long lists of boyfriends. I want you to be happy. But I’m also not going to compromise my duty as your parent in exchange for your happiness. Sucks to have a parent that enforces boundaries, that sticks to expectations. We absolutely will not agree on everything, or even most things. But I will do my best to respect you and I ask you to do the same for me. Before you know it… you’ll be all grown up and living on your own. That will be such a sad, and exciting, and happy, and scary time. Your attitude this evening improved immensely. You were quite an enjoyable person to be around. Let’s see if we can keep this going. Just one more thing… don’t be a jerk to your sister… she loves you too. And don’t think you aren’t going to have consequences for yesterday’s rendezvous.

Back to our adventures of quarantine…

It’s Friday night. Start of the weekend… woohoo! It just doesn’t quite have the same ring to it. To add a little spunk, we got wings and burgers from Fire on the Mountain and played poker. Nothing like a little under-aged gambling, right?