How I Really Feel Friday - Well...the cop was nice

Let me preface this by saying that I took today off for a last hurrah before school starts so I can spend the day at the beach with my kid because she's been trying to get there all summer long but her and her friends calendars never seem to make that work and/or their being new drivers they weren't allowed to drive with one another in the car.

I left work yesterday and joined two other old co-worker friends to visit another girl we used to work with to cheer her up. Kim not only just turned 50 but had a rather serious surgery to her neck and is home bound. Its approximately 6 weeks after her surgery. We didn't want her birthday to pass without any fanfare having been stuck at home so we brought the party to her. The one thing I did right, she seemed to really enjoy my choice of red wine that I brought, was very familiar with it and impressed. The other girls brought things to nibble on and we had a lovely few hours chatting, laughing and reminiscing. So I was in a happy place when I left Kim's house.

When I got home I had about an hour before the kid got off work but she promptly called to say that she was picking up her best friend and going to a local diner for food. I told her to be home early because I wanted to leave rather early for the beach.

At 10:45pm I called and asked where she was and reminded her little absent mind to drop Ally off because by the time she does that and gets back home it will be almost 11:30. What can I say, she's going to be a junior and Math is not her forte!

At 11:30 my cell phone rings and she says, "Mom, can you come get me?" "I'm at the 'no-tell motel' (raunchy name withheld) and the cops want our parents to come or they won't let us leave." Steam pressure building up inside me.

I say, "Are you in trouble?" She replies, "No, and don't be mad."

She says this a lot to me when she's calling me last minute when she's already supposed to be home. I'm not sure which pisses me off more, that she's not home when she's supposed to be or the gall of her telling me how NOT to feel when its my parental right.

So I jump from my nest from which I was sleeping and decided to put real clothes on because although I would have loved to embarrass her, I grew up in the town that she called from and you never know who I might bump into and that might not be the moment I want to be seen in my PJ's.

So when I get to the 'no tell motel' I eyeball the cop car and a group of kids from our town. The young, handsome, more than cordial policeman says, "There was a party. They were in a room." And by the look on my face quickly added, "a whole bunch of kids were in the room together." and adds, "SHE doesn't appear to have been drinking BUT I don't want anyone driving home just in case and I don't want to 'pinch' anyone." Well, he was in a more generous mood than I was.

We had to leave my old car at the 'no tell motel' so that this morning when my friends and family drive by on their way to work they can see it sitting there! Oy!

The whole ride home in the car she was angry at me because she knew I was pissed and that I wouldn't believe her when she was trying to tell me that, 'she dropped Ally off and then went to the 'no tell' to give Chelsea her sweatshirt so she'd have it tonight for the concert' they're all supposed to go to. My question was "you left the diner in 'Town A' dropped Ally off in 'Town B' (which is our town but the furthest point on the outskirts) and then drove all the way to 'Town C' when you should have already been home." Reply: "I know you don't believe me but that's the truth."

I have to admit that it was hard not to believe this version of the story because as the cop indicated, she seemed to be one of the few if not the only kid who appeared to NOT have alcohol in her. BUT she conveniently omitted telling me her plan of action when I talked to her on the phone which doesn't make it look good for her.

Upon waking this morning the first thought in my head was A) She's going to kill me (high blood pressure, heart palpitations) and B) The ex should have to deal with this because it would be payback for everything I used to have to put up with when he used to behave the same way...as an adult married man! Sweet justice if he had to deal with the same behavior he used to make me have to deal with! BUT NO, God seems to have a sense of humor and wants to prove that history repeats itself and remembers that I had to take 11th Grade History over again in Senior year.