Commentary by Danielle Wilson
Well, friends, it’s finally happened. Doo and I have successfully caught one of our children in a bold-faced lie. After all these years of suspected truth-forgoing, I can now confidently say, “Parents 1, Kids 0!” A glorious moment for moms and dads everywhere, to be sure.
On New Year’s Eve, our precious first-born child, all 6-foot-2 of him, looked me in the eyes and told me he’d be spending the night at a friends’ house. I sent G out the door 95 percent certain he was going where he said he was.
Like any good parent, however, I allowed that remaining 5 percent to dictate my next action, texting the mom to verify the plan. Before hearing back, though, Doo and I went off to our own celebration and completely forgot about our oldest until the following morning when he returned home. He’d had a good time, they’d gotten some sleep … now he was headed down to the Colts game. Great. Have fun!
But later that day, at a neighbor’s hangover party, the hostess casually mentioned to Doo that her daughter had seen G out last night, at some girl’s house. Honestly, I didn’t think much of this information, assuming the boys had gone to this party for a while and then headed back to the friend’s. Like most gullible moms, I didn’t really believe my son would lie, at least not to me.
Around 4 p.m. that day, though, the truth emerged. My mom-friend responded that they had not been at her house for New Year’s Eve, nor had they ever planned to be. What? I felt adrift. Part of me actually crumbled and screamed, “Nooooo, not my baby!” while ironically, the other part let forth a resounding, “Ah-ha! Busted!”
I like to think G confessed immediately because of the guilt he felt at lying, but his admittance was more likely due to the incontrovertible evidence stacked against him. Regardless, he served his punishment stoically and will hopefully think twice before his next teenage mis-adventure. Or at least be more diligent in hiding his tracks! It was just too easy!
Peace out.
