Tonight on my way home I noticed a house on my street adorned with the unmistakable stamp of pre-teen sorrows...or at least that's what it was for me. Wet, sticky, stuck-to-the-branches toilet paper hung from the highest branches of the largest tree in their yard. Toilet paper that (let's face it) isn't coming down for awhile, and will stand as a reminder to it's victim of the night he was TP'ed.
Instead of my usual initial thought of "oh..that sucks", I was somehow sucked into the vortex of my Middle School memories. (I've noticed this happening a lot since I started working at a middle school so prepare to hear lots of great stuff from my angsty, boy-crazy archives!!)
Let me tell ya, it's no fun having your dad wake you up in the middle of the night (on a few separate occasions) to come outside and see those long white strands of buttpaper dangling from your tree, draped over your bushes, and wound around the pillars of your front walkway...discovering the name of your crush written all over your driveway in pink sidewalk chalk, and having to stand out there in the cold cleaning the mess up.. sound dramatic? Stay with me, it happened and it happens to pre-teens a lot!
And the girls who did this to me weren't kidding anyone. They could giggle and shush each other all the wanted at school the next week but obviously upon hearing their sleepover stories I knew who the culprits were. (Backstabbing Girl Scouts...) And yea it sounds a little pathetic but being a 6th grade girl and knowing that a group of your friends chose you to keep a big, fun, vandalizing secret from didn't feel good. Not only that! Oh no..there was also the fact that these were the girls you hung out with during and after school every day, some of these girls were your best friends..and they certainly didn't stick up for you when the other girls were deciding who to TP! And there's MORE!! Sixth graders do not spend their own money on toilet paper, and they certainly don't hop in their own SUV's to drive down to your house at 1am! There's parents involved!! Parent's who made you pizza rolls after school and asked how your family was. EVIL!!!
So yea the cleaning and betrayal sucked but honestly the worst part was hearing about the fun time all of your friends had at the party, and knowing the simple fact that you weren't invited. You missed out, and your friends didn't want you there..they wanted to TP your damn house!!
From then on there were a few times when I was invited to TP someones house with a friend, and my Dad never let me. I was upset about it then but I'm glad for it now, and when I become someones Mom, I'm probably not going to let them do it either. I can understand if your an adult and want to prank some friends, that's probably ok because your not dealing with someone at an impressionable age, prone to those woe-is-me feelings. But maybe even then try something more creative, that still packs a punch but is easier to clean up...like plastic forks...or flamingos!
So to the kid down the street, I feel ya! And for those high branches the rake is your best friend. :)
Sunday, November 14, 2010
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