Maddie the 13 year old had track practice at 8:30 a.m. after staying out last night at the High School football game which is utterly irrelevant to the fact Sarah had to get her at 11 while I wake her at 7:15 to take her.
Her social calendar is fine.
Ours would be a train wreck if we had one ... which we don't.
Laurel sings in the Savannah Children's Choir which practices every night most days of the week ... of course IN SAVANNAH which is half-an-hour from Tybee Island where there is NOT A CHILDREN'S CHOIR because Tybee only does things for old people!
There are old people choirs.
Either Sarah or I make the drive almost every night so the child has something to do.
Cassidy is in two different dance classes which is a royal pain in the ass as they are off island too so Sarah and I have a wonderful marriage solely predicated on waving to each other coming or going from Tybee Island.
On Tybee the old adults believe every good child goes to the beach and enjoys it without ever wanting to do anything else.
Tybee is a wonderful Heaven for old people and perilously close to a living Hell for kids wanting to experience the world.
When Jeremy, Kristen and Chelsea grew up the beach was the main draw of course but old people cared about children then.
There was an amusement park with a Merry-Go-Round, a water slide, the Arcade, shooting gallery and Christy's with the best corn dogs, fries and a juke box with everything on it.
Now old people hate such things.
They've forgotten what it's like to be a child ... the wonderment of a mud puddle (they might break a hip) ... the thrill of a kiss at the top of the Ferris Wheel when it stops (they may throw up) ... Daring each other to Jump off the Pier into the ocean (it's a $350 fine if you're in 50 feet of it) ... Dune Diving (also a $300 fine if you step on a Mountain of Sand and play).
But they say we're safer ... unless you're pulled over by the Island Police who personally welcome you to the Highway to Hell and Tybee Court.
Let me confess ... I now qualify as "OLD" ... 59 and counting ... well Sarah's counting ... I don't give it much thought.
But I still enjoy mud puddles ... making love in the Sand Dunes without getting caught ... distributing "Clothing Optional" stickers on the island ... and teaching our girls how to spit for distance and accuracy from the top of the Light House.
But I'm blessed living in a house full of children who make me wonder just WHAT IN THE HELL are we doing to kids these days?
Old people feel safer when children are seen and not heard ... on a beach ... or on a "family friendly" island.
Take away the things for kids to do and eventually the children and teenagers disappear too.
I don't know about you but I plan to stay young until I die.
If you don't agree ... it's fine ... I see a mud muddle with your name written all over it.
