Teen Tropes

There are things about Handsome growing up that I'm not looking forward to, and quite a few of them are usually associated with teen-agers. We see TV and movies pointing these things out all the time, so we've all seen them, whether we have kids or not.

 They are things like the kid wanting to do anything in the world besides spending time with the parents; deciding vocally and publicly that adults are doddering old wrecks who never actually did know their asses  from their elbows; and that old teen standby of monopolizing the phone to the point of screaming 'Don't get it! I've got it!' every time the thing rings.

Recently my boy's discovered an online game called Minecraft, and he'd become just slightly addicted. What this game has done, I've noticed, is speed up the growing up process in my son. Here are some recent conversations we've had while he was sitting, glassy-eyed in front of the computer screen.

"You want to go out and play catch?"
"No thanks."

"I'm cutting down that tree in the yard, you want to see it come down?"
"No thanks."

(Now for the one he normally would have jumped at even if he was in a coma)
"I'm running that tree I took down through the chimenea in the back yard, a chunk at a time. It's really blazing back there. Want to help keep the fire going?"
"No thanks."

And then tonight.
"You want to go for a little ride? I just got the motorcycle back on the road, we still have some time before the sun goes down and it rains..."
"No thanks."

It's like having a teen-ager already! And it happened so fast it's freaking me out! And, as if to drive the point home for me, he's started exchanging phone numbers with other kids in his school who also play Minecraft so they can get a little organized and play at the same time, hooking up with each other in the game. Thus, twice last night I heard:

Ring... ring...ri- "I got it! Don't pick it up, I got it! I got- Hello? Yeah, it's me...",

Then the sound of the door closing.

My boy. 9 going on 19. It brings a tear to my eye.

If anybody wants me, I'll be the doddering old wreck over here in the corner trying to figure out which one's my elbow.

Talk to you later!