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Sunday, March 13, 2011

Winter Writings: Day 83

I guess we never grow too old to try to parent our children, even though they grow too old to have much patience with our attempts to do so. Today, was a perfect example of why this practice should be stopped. My son announced a desire to have a duvet cover for his bed that was not pink. A reasonable request. But not knowing what would make a room I decorated in frilly pink look less....well, girly... I asked him to come with me to check on "what would IKEA do" to solve this decorating dilemma.

When we arrived in the parking lot, rather than spend time looking for a spot close to the building entrance, I lectured him about my parking methodology, i.e. to park as far away as possible so that I burn more calories getting places. Knowing I sounded like an overbearing parent, I still took it upon myself to extol the virtues of walking more and driving less, since I am rather proud of my latest in a long line of attempts to live healthily. And he patiently listened, resigned to the idea that I am still trying to tell him how to live his life at almost age 26. I also took a few potshots at the local weatherman who said it would rain all day when we were enjoying a fairly dry day thus far. After all, how many people have a job where they can be wrong most of the time and still be employed?

We walked across the parking lot and into IKEA, where we had lunch, found a duvet cover that suited him (black and charcoal - no prints) and checked out....and promptly walked out the door into the rainstorm from hell. Winds gusting about 40 miles an hour, rain coming down sideways and small pieces of hail with razor sharp edges. You could not see five feet in front of your face. And where is my car? On the opposite side of the parking lot. I'll give him credit. He did offer to go get the car like the gentlemen I taught him to be. But I knew I had earned this. I handed him the bag and made a run for it.

Twenty feet into the run, I wasn't just wet. I was like a load of wash that hadn't gone through the spin cycle yet. I felt like I was standing in a cold shower and being pummeled with small razor blades. My socks squished. My lips turned blue. I shivered uncontrollably. I am desperately clutching my purse trying to keep my iPhone dry when every fiber on my body was soaking wet. I ran the Boston marathon in that short distance to my car. And when I finally get in, I realized that I am wearing jeans, which means I will probably leach blue dye onto my light grey car seats. I've lived here 10 years now. You would think I would remember that spring storms are a bit unpredictable.

I drive up to the store exit to pick up my son and, to his credit, he neither laughed nor said a word about my earlier lecture, although I think I detected a surpressed laugh over my bedraggled appearance. But I think I will lecture a little bit less in the future to avoid being caught at less than my best. Obviously, when regarding the weather, I am no subject matter expert at all. Although, I do believe I burned a few calories...

1 comment:

Lucy said...

Good idea Jan, though, have to say I am still laughing!LOLOL
hugs Lucy