{"id":2555,"date":"2024-01-28T23:08:09","date_gmt":"2024-01-28T23:08:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gmachronicles.com\/?p=2555"},"modified":"2024-01-28T23:17:40","modified_gmt":"2024-01-28T23:17:40","slug":"its-teen-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gmachronicles.com\/index.php\/its-teen-time\/","title":{"rendered":"It’s Teen Time"},"content":{"rendered":"

When your birthdays push you past the half-century mark and beyond, there’s something the great P. G. Wodehouse would have called a stone-dead cert:\u00a0 You have a long list of things that mark the increasing acceleration of time.\u00a0 Candles on the cake, growth in the garden, waking up and finding it is Easter, when Christmas was just yesterday.\u00a0 We\u2019ve all got \u2018em.<\/p>\n

Yet none of those ubiquitous markers has smacked me on the old bean quite as powerfully as when, on a recent day, I looked into the light-blue eyes of my 12-year-old grandson.\u00a0 And realized I was looking up.\u00a0 Because, though we have checked and debated this metric multiple times in recent months, there is no longer any question. The ref has blown the whistle, and there is no need to examine the video. It is official. He is taller than I am.<\/p>\n

If one pays the slightest attention to genetics, which I view as increasingly powerful, the older I get, this milestone should be no surprise.\u00a0 Lanky, long-limbed Buddy, two months shy of his 13th<\/sup> birthday, is the child of a six-foot-plus father and a mom who has proudly towered over me since she was not much older than he is.\u00a0 Still, there is something particularly poignant about this illustration of the fleeting passage of years.\u00a0 Why is that, I wondered?<\/p>\n

Maybe it\u2019s apprehension about the official arrival of the teen years, and all that they routinely include.\u00a0 I recently lamented to my daughter (his mom) about the marked recent signs of maturity in Buddy and his younger sister, two years behind him on the birthday calendar.\u00a0 \u201cI KNOW!\u201d she wailed.\u00a0 \u201cThey used to be babies!\u201d\u00a0 Indeed, I thought, remaining convinced that was only about two weeks ago.<\/p>\n

Flags indicating the onset of Teendom in Buddy have been waving for several months now.\u00a0 Not long ago at the dinner table, I watched while his mother\u2019s husband swiftly and without comment swapped his slices of roast for hers, providing her with the cuts he knows she prefers. Wow, I commented in appreciation, that\u2019s true love.<\/p>\n

\u201cAwwww,\u201d Buddy moaned, \u201cI want true love!\u00a0 And I\u2019m going to have wait so LONG!\u201d\u00a0 Maybe not, I thought to myself, remembering the 70-year romance of my parents, who met at 14.\u00a0 You never know on that one, I said aloud.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t roll his eyes, but he probably considered it.<\/p>\n

Then there\u2019s the dreaded Maybe Syndrome, a highly effective tool for teens to wield against anyone who holds any degree of responsibility in their lives.\u00a0 It\u2019s a subtle, but effective, power-shifter.\u00a0 There are days when anything you ask Buddy generates the same answer:\u00a0 Maybe.\u00a0 Want a sandwich?\u00a0 Watch a movie?\u00a0 Sauce on your ice cream?\u00a0 Maybe maybe maybe maybe.\u00a0 I recently took a cue from his younger sister, who is admirably sharpening her skills in fighting fire with fire.\u00a0 He asked me after a recent meal about dessert, and before I could respond, she jumped in with strategic advice.\u00a0 \u201cTell him maybe, Evie.\u00a0 Tell him maybe.\u00a0 That\u2019s all he ever says, so say that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Across the dinner table on another recent evening, family chatter lagged for a moment.\u00a0 Buddy stepped bravely into the breach to announce, apropos of nothing, \u201cGuess what, Evie! I started wearing deodorant today!\u201d<\/p>\n

What\u2019s a grandmother to say?\u00a0 I blabbered the first thing that popped into the G-ma brain: Is it working?\u00a0 What a rookie mistake.\u00a0 His ever-vigilant sibling immediately seized the obvious comedic opening.\u00a0 Leaning over from the chair next to her brother, she thrust her nose into his armpit, then issued her ruling:\u00a0 \u201cNO.\u201d<\/p>\n

So far, at least, in spite of all the fears around us in our tumultuous world, I\u2019m not too worried about what the teen years will mean in life for Buddy.\u00a0 He has a devoted, competent, no-nonsense mom, a very present father and stepfather, and many other adults who love him.\u00a0 Still, looking down the road while looking up into his eyes raises other questions.\u00a0 What\u2019s my role now, with this boy I adore?\u00a0 No more need to check his shoelaces or remind him to go to the bathroom or wonder if he remembers the safe way to slice an apple (well, I might still hover a bit on that last one), though he does maintain his propensity for getting lost.\u00a0 He is much more likely to explain to me some complex scientific concept to me than the other way around. My role as second-team safety patrol and\/or entertainment\/information source is over, at least in its old form.<\/p>\n

Another surprise brought this question to mind again recently.\u00a0 I\u2019m not sure if my reaction, which was clearly sought, was right or wrong.\u00a0 \u00a0A grandmother can only, with love, do her best in the moment.\u00a0 The phone rang a couple of days ago with a FaceTime request, and when I hit accept, a shock awaited.\u00a0 Buddy\u2019s handsome face filled the screen, his shiny hair cropped to about a quarter-inch all over his head.<\/p>\n

For months, maybe more than a year, our young man had grown out his hair until it reached below the top of his shoulders.\u00a0 My hairdresser confirmed the predominance of this trend with young teen males, when I may have shared my dismay with a professional. Thick, wavy, and blonde, Buddy\u2019s hair drew comments all around. In my circle, the reactions reeked of envy, especially from women of, shall we say, a certain age.\u00a0 In recording this for history, I\u2019ll leave out the details of my own view, which I may have failed to keep to myself in front of him.\u00a0 Let\u2019s just say I often missed a clearer view of his handsome face.<\/p>\n

On the phone, on camera, my jaw dropped way below sea level.\u00a0 What on earth?\u00a0 What made you decide to do that?\u00a0 And Teen Man gave voice.\u00a0 \u201cI don\u2019t know,\u201d he shrugged. \u201cI was bored, I think.\u201d<\/p>\n

Well, my goodness, I stuttered.\u00a0 You look very handsome.\u00a0 Of course, you were handsome before, and you\u2019re handsome now.<\/p>\n

Under pressure, it was the best I could do.\u00a0 It’s Teen Time.\u00a0 More surprises are surely coming.<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When your birthdays push you past the half-century mark and beyond, there’s something the great P. G. Wodehouse would have called a stone-dead cert:\u00a0 You have a long list of things that mark the increasing acceleration of time.\u00a0 Candles on the cake, growth in the garden, waking up and finding it is Easter, when Christmas […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":2557,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7],"tags":[275,273,274,276],"class_list":["post-2555","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-grandkids","category-humor","tag-grandparents-and-teenagers","tag-teenage-boys","tag-teenagers","tag-younger-siblings"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmachronicles.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2555","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmachronicles.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmachronicles.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmachronicles.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmachronicles.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2555"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gmachronicles.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2555\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmachronicles.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2557"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmachronicles.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmachronicles.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmachronicles.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}