springdellgirl

Thankful Day 12

I am thankful that I am not a father of a teenage daughter. Being the mother of a teenage daughter is fraught with it's own issues but being a father of a teenage daughter is it's own brand of crazy. Case in point, Reilly has entered the wonderful (gulp) world of dating. At our house we have a little mantra that we like her to repeat frequently...and that is she dates at our "whim and pleasure". Meaning that dating is a privilege not a right and we have a say in how and when it is done. (How long this will last who knows? But we are sticking with it for now.) Anyway...we often say to Reilly "What do you date at?" and we demand she respond with "Your whim and pleasure." We keep this up multiple times a day. We want that to really sink into her thick skull. :)

The big day finally arrived. Today in fact. Reilly was going on her first date. We had several standards that had to be met for this date to occur. 1.) It had to be a group date, 2.) It had to be at a public place, 3.) She had to meet the kid there. (Absolutely no riding in cars with boys for her yet.) She readily agreed. Today the kids were out of school for Veterans Day and Tyler took the day off as well. Earlier today, as we were out running errands, we had this little exchange:

Ty: Are you FREAKING OUT?
Me: About what?
Ty: REILLY'S DATE!!
Me: Not particularly. Why are you?
Ty:  UH-YEAH. I couldn't sleep at all last night.
Me: You need to get a grip. This is a tame date. 

(They were meeting at the mall with a group of friends to go to an afternoon movie.)

Ty: It's still a date.
Me: What are you going to do when some loser shows up in a crappy car to pick her up to take her who knows where and to do who knows what?
Ty: OKAY! OKAY! STOP TALKING!!
Me: Well it's true.YOU are taking her to the mall AND picking her up. Save your worry for another kind of date. I mean what are they going to do have sex at the mall? In the movie? I guess she could leave the movie but she knows that we would kill her!!
Ty: JUST STOP!!
Me: (laughing)
Ty: (very pale) We need to get that kid on some birth control ASAP!!

So the time arrives. Tyler takes Reilly and a friend to the mall. Of course Reilly has gotten the time wrong so her date (Lionel) isn't there yet. Tyler VERY RELUCTANTLY leaves her with notice that he and Kam will be at the mall while Kameron is cashing in on his Vans gift card and you never know but they could get a sudden urge to go see a movie so she had better be where she is supposed to be doing what she is supposed to be doing.

So Kam picks out his new kicks and they head home after Tyler surveys the mall for any "funny business." Once home,Tyler checks the movie running time...watches the clock like a hawk...texts her during the movie...then actually CALLS THE THEATER to find out exactly when the movie gets out and then leaves early to go pick her up.

This is where it gets even more hilarious. So Tyler is skulking out in the car in the parking lot in front of the movie theater with his BINOCULARS so that he doesn't miss anything!! Luckily it was dark or he could have been reported as a real creeper. After the movie gets out, Reilly calls him, not knowing he's already in the parking lot, to ask can he pick her up a little later because they want to go to the food court and get a drink. ABSOLUTELY NOT!! He informs her that he is already there. Through his BINOCULARS he sees her looking out into the parking lot and scanning for him and gesturing to her friends. He drops the BINOCULARS and then zooms right to the front door of the theater as she and her friends are coming out still looking around for him. He makes a direct beeline for old Lionel. Luckily the kid turned out to be respectful and actually stuck out his hand for Tyler to shake and said "It's nice to meet you Sir." OH YES...Tyler really enjoyed being called Sir. A standard has just been set. And...just as he is congratulating himself for clearly setting boundaries with this boy and making him VERY AWARE that Reilly has a dad who will watch him like a hawk...and getting called Sir to boot...his 16 year old daughter walks up to this boy and lays a big ol' kiss on him. RIGHT IN FRONT OF TYLER. 

WELL...let's just say poor Tyler's got a long road ahead of him.