July 12 entry



I’ve always been one to give the kid a long rope. I figure it works out better that way, though it’s a scary proposition. With this gal, well. It’s the only way to keep halfway sane. She’s my baby girl, Lacey and I love her with all my heart. We’ve learned some hard lessons together that I’m hoping will serve her well when she remembers who she is.

I should have known that the proverbial “payin’ for my raising” would come at the most inopportune time for me. My momma had jokingly told her when she entered her teen years “ Now, you just call MeMaw, honey, when you get ready to climb out that bedroom window. I’ll bring the ladder up there for you!” Momma’s sense of humor is wicked now that she’s got us all grown. I did a lot of sneaking around as a teenager, and one of the few times I got caught was when I snuck out of the house late at night to meet an older boy with his own truck. No sooner did we find us a little dark place down the road to make out than I saw every light in that house come to life. Busted! Figuring I was already in trouble anyway, I just stayed there in the truck smooching a while and working on my alibi. My empty bed was camouflaged as a body with stuffed animals and pillows underneath. Those were the days when we slept in rollers and there was even a full curler cap topping that stuffed body. What a genius I was! No? Not quite. I tiptoed back into the house about an hour later to the sound of silence. Whew. So far, so good. Right when I rounded the corner into the living room, I spotted Momma sittin’ on the couch still as a mouse with her arms folded looking madder than I’d ever seen her. Plastering a happy smile on my face, I came to sit by her and told her all about my middle of the night jog and how wonderful it was. “Oh my yes! All my friends do it too!” I continued. “Your daddy’s out lookin’ for you right now young lady” she sternly replied. “Sit right there and don’t move.” After what seemed an eternity, Daddy came through the door, head down and forlorn. “ I couldn’t find her” he said quietly. Right then he looked up and saw me sitting there safe and sound, and he began to cry softly. I’m here to tell you, my Daddy just does not cry much. I had never,in my entire thirteen year old life, felt so evil. That was punishment enough. But of course I got grounded too.

Surly attitudes were the norm around the house when my own daughter hit the magic age of thirteen. She could slam doors and pitch a fit like nobody’s business, knowing all the while what it did to my nerves. The house was always full of girlfriends and giggling in spite of the melodrama of being an early teen. My old man Jimmy had left his tent out following a wet camping trip to a NASCAR race and it sat in the yard drying out in the warm spring breeze. My baby girl,Lacey, and her friends Alice and Hillary decided to spend the night out in the tent in the side yard. Watching them through the window on occasion, I could see the beams from the flashlights bouncing around and the tent jiggling with every little movement. They ended up in the house, of course, about daybreak. “We’re hungry” they cried in unison. Jimmy fixed ‘em all some bacon and eggs as I was leaving for the 6AM shift at work. “Y’all have a good one” I quipped as I left home.

When I got home from work, only Hillary was left as company for Lacey. I noticed a couple of odd numbers on the caller ID but didn’t think much of it. One can’t worry about every little thing, you know. I went to bed early that night, leaving the girls up watching TV and chattering. A couple of hours later, I felt Jimmy slide into the bed beside me and we were both out like a light in no time. When the telephone rang, I struggled out of a deep sleep to look at the clock. It was one- thirty am. Everybody knows that no phone call at that time of the morning can be much good. Either somebody has died or there’s a crisis of some sort. When I answered, it was Lacey’s strange friend Andrew. “Is Lacey there?” he asked. Mumbling into the phone I said “She’s asleep” and hung up. I was almost back to sleep when a disturbing little thought jumped out to jolt me awake. “Why hadn’t Lacey answered the phone?” Hmmmm. If there’s one sure thing about thirteen year old girls, it’s that they get the phone as soon as any semblance of a ring is heard. As much as I wanted to drift back off, I dragged myself up to check out the situation in her room. All was quiet and dark and I could see the sleeping forms in the bed. I reached over to touch her and guess what? Oh, yeah. It was the age old stuffed bed trick coming back to haunt me!

I stumbled back to my bed to wake Jimmy. “ The girls are gone” I said. “Wake UP!” He slowly came to life, and we went to the living room to talk and wait. As he watched TV and tried to ignore my growing hysteria, I paced and worried. By three thirty there was still no sign of them, and we called the sheriff’s department. An officer was dispatched to our country house quickly and he joined us in the living room. “Does she have a boyfriend?” he asked. No, not that we knew of. “Have you had any trouble like this before?” Quietly, we shook our heads no. “I’m sure they’re fine” he said. And about that time, in they walked from the back of the house. Their eyes were as big as saucers when they spotted the cop sitting in the middle of the living room. “Sit” I said. Lacey stood behind the chair where Hillary took a seat and the cop began his questioning. “Where’ve you girls been?” he asked. “Um..well. We caught a ride into town with some guys. All innocent fun, you know?” Hillary was the spokesperson, as Lacey stood still as a stone. This was a common scene for this kindly cop, and he finished his drill quickly and went on his way. The girls didn’t have to be told to get to bed. They scurried away like scalded dogs.

I had to be at work at six am again so there was no sense in lying back down. Jimmy was off to watch them and that day was the longest of my life as I dragged myself through the anger and fatigue that threatened to take me under. This is when I knew for sure that justice had been served and that I was redeemed for my own mischief as a teenager. After work that day, I took the girls to see the Easter play at church and you could have floated a boat on the tears they cried when they saw the pretend Jesus carrying that cross down the center aisle. “Good” I thought. “Y’all need to feel guilty!” But I was crying too. Because that’s what mommas do.