First, she barged into my room and demanded that I give her a ride to the gelato place downtown. No 'please,' no 'thank you.'
Second, the entire ride there, she was doing her makeup in the visor mirror of my car. Garish green eyeshadow and way too much mascara, including on the lower lashes. Clump city!
Third, I told her I would drop her off around the block from the gelato place because there was never a spot to parallel-park in front of it. She blew a huge fit because it's slightly rainy, her hair is perfectly straight, and she hates having to walk anywhere, even if it's just for two minutes. Still, I didn't relent. I kicked her out in the rain a block away and gladly drove home.
But jeez, what a reminder! She's a total teenager. If she was my daughter I couldn't be more shocked and disturbed. I remember the day she was born in great detail! I still think of her as the baby my mom brought to visit my grade 3 class, before she had any hair.
You have to treat teenage sisters a lot different than baby sisters. As it has always been, everything she does bothers me. She has crappy posture, her expression always looks crabby, and she's just plain rude. She 'typs lik dis' on Facebook. She wears really crappy makeup. She is a total slave to trends and copies every single thing her friends do.
It's been a long time since I was cranky-for-no-reason, typed chatspeak and thought I looked great in caked-on makeup. It's been many years since I gave a crap what my friends were doing and started doing my own thing. I've grown up a lot. I have to remember that -- that she's barely at the beginning of the teenage phase while I've graduated out of it. I have to remember that she doesn't have the life experience I have yet. I have to stop picking her apart because, in time, she'll learn from her mistakes. She doesn't need me to point them out to her.
Instead I should be watching her grow up and trying to feed off her teenage energy, because I'm an old person now. I should be making fun of her love for Justin Bieber at every chance I get.
I write for teens -- she can be my link to their world. I have to try not to kill her. I could use her.
"I have to try not to kill her. I could use her." Spoken like a true Sith Lord! lol
ReplyDeleteThe girl wanted some gelato. You've never had cravings? :-)
Seriously, 13 year olds have more in common with wolverines than they do people.
EJ
I have one of those rude aliens in my house too. He's my child so I don't know if that's better or worse. I do understand why some mammals eat their young.
ReplyDeleteHahah this was great and so, so true.
ReplyDeleteWow... lol. I don't have sisters, only a brother, and he was a teenaged girl. Well, dur... :P I did dress him up and put makeup on him though, when he was little ;)
ReplyDeleteYour last few lines made me laugh out loud on the train. Hehehe... Try not to let her teenageness get to you too much. ;-)
ReplyDeletehllo? i'm 13! ur mean!
ReplyDelete(I don't really type like that ;)
This sounds like my 23 year old sister. Don't worry, this isn't the case with all early teens. We aren't all evil mammals :)
13yr olds can be useful sometimes. Sometimes.
ReplyDeleteWagging Tales - Blog for Writers
Oh man, I know exactly how you feel. My sister is 19 and I'm STILL not used to the fact that she's a teenager. I still think of her as 12 years old, and I freaked when she got a tattoo. Ugh, I'm getting old.
ReplyDeleteLove the use her not kill her :)
ReplyDeleteBrandi from Blkosiner’s Book Blog