Driving Around

We're midway through a very relaxing and uneventful Spring Break.

• Spell Girl and June have gone on miles and miles of bike rides.   
• Mack has learned how to play lacrosse with all the little neighbor boys.   
• And The Cruise Director has watched 4 seasons worth of Psych episodes.  

After three straight days of relaxing, though, The Cruise Director and I were starting to go a little stir crazy.  

Stir Crazy for HER = grumpy, irritable, frustrated

Stir Crazy for ME = bored, silly, hilariously funny

At 9:30 tonight, when I wasn't even able to get through family prayer without laughing hysterically, and TCD looked like she wanted all of us to spontaneously burst into flames, my husband handed me the keys to his car and said, "Would you two please go DO SOMETHING!!"

There was instant energy in the room as we both looked at each other and then raced down the stairs and out to the garage as quickly as we could before anyone decided they wanted to come with us.   After we opened the garage door and agreed on the music in the car, we sat there for a minute...

Me:  Now what?
TCD:  Well, I definitely think we should get out of the garage.
Me.  (now sitting in driveway)  ???
TCD:  Let's go get a drink and just drive around!
Me:  OK  (I totally love getting a drink and just driving around...especially with good music!)


Guess where we went...SONIC!  She got a blue coconut slushie and I got a Medium Cherry Limeade with extra ice and pretended it was a Diet DP (I wonder if there will ever be a day that I don't long for that stuff??!)


So with drinks in hand, we set out to "drive around".  First we drove by TCD's crush's house (twice).  

TCD:  I think I just saw him in the window!  Can you drive by again??
Me:  You know, I'm not exactly inconspicuous in Daddy's heavily logo'd car!
TCD:  It's ok, we can drive fast.
Me:  They live in a culdesac!!

After that, we just drove without purpose for the next hour and a half.  The rest of our conversations went something like this...


TCD:  Sometimes I worry that Spell Girl will never get married.
Me:  You think?
TCD:  Mommy, think about it, we're going to walk into her house one day and she's going to be curled up on the couch with 20 books and surrounded by all the stray animals she's rescued, with empty boxes of Claritin and tissues all over the place!
Me:  :)  (There have been times when I've actually had that same concern.)

TCD:  You know, I don't really think there's a TYPE of guy for everyone.  I think you can like lots of different kinds of guys and they might ALL work with your personality.

Me:  Well, that's sort of the reason you DATE (after you're 16!) so that you can figure out what your TYPE is.

TCD:  Do you have a TYPE?

Me:  Yep...consistent and reliable...even...smart...totally into music.

TCD:  I don't think we're attracted to the same kind of guy.

Me:  (It was hard to keep my composure on this one.)

TCD:  I've thought and thought and thought about (insert name of parents' preference for TCD's first date here...which is 18 months away!) because I know you guys like him.  He's REALLY nice, and REALLY smart, and his family is AWESOME, but I don't think he's very attractive.  And I think I would have to be attracted to the person I marry.  So I'm going to have to say no to that one.  Sorry.

Me:  I totally agree, but sometimes a person who is physically attractive can turn out to have a crappy personality.  And sometimes a person who might not initially turn your head will have so many other amazing qualities that everything else about him becomes attractive.  So, try to have an open mind.  And we'll stop pushing (insert name of parents' preference here.)

The next one was prompted by the drive-by window shopping we did at Fairview...

specifically this window...

TCD:  Where do you think the next fashion trends are going to go?  I mean, they can't really get any shorter or tighter or more revealing, can they?

Me:  Usually stuff cycles back around.  The tight, skimpy, revealing thing is kind of like what was popular in the 70s.  But the 80s were baggy, oversized, and flourescent.  Maybe that's what's coming next.

TCD:  Ugh...baggy? seriously?  I thought clothes were supposed to be designed to make you look better than you already look?  you know, skinnier, taller, more flattering?

Me:  When have you EVER seen someone in those super short shorts and thought it was a flattering look? 

TCD:  OK!  When I'm a fashion designer, I'm not going to make anything that is immodest!! That way REAL people will always look good in my clothes!!

 

The whole night was like that...lightning fast, hilariously funny, thought provoking, interesting, delightful conversation.  It was so much fun to gain a little insight into my 14 year old's head.  It's funny how much thought she's put into things that haven't even affected her yet...like BOYS, and her sister's propensity toward a CRAZY CAT LADY future.  
When we finished our drinks and pulled into the garage, she hopped out of the car and said, "Great talk, Mommy!"
(Ditto!)