Divorce Your Parents?
07.25.04 (11:44 pm) [edit]
Patrick Holland is 14 and wants to divorce his father for killing his mother.
*
My sister calls my apartment this morning at 9:00 am my time, 9:00pm her time.
*
Bug?
Yes.
You awake?
Um, yeah. I mean I was getting up--about to get up.
Oh. Good. I was just up having a night cap.
Isn't it barely 9 over there?
Yes. But Eric put the kids to bed. I'm watching Baby Einstein again.
Shit. Wierdo.
Oh whatever, you have to throw out your exciting movies and porn when you have kids--its the law.
So whats up?
I think I am a bad mother.
Um, excuse me?
Yes. I actually don't think-- I know that I am bad mother.
Um. What? You a bad mother? Are you crazy? You are an amazing person and mother-- your children are so well- um, trained.
Exactly. You know that today the neighbors kids were playing in the mud and Jackie came running home to tattle on them?
So what? You want her in the mud?
No. But I want them to be mischevious, to be kids.
What did Sam do?
He just stood there, acting shy. My children are going to be losers. They'll be made fun of. And people will call Sam a momma's boy. And Jackie is a tattle. Oh gosh, and they have never even fought with eachother!
You want them to fight?
Yes!
Um, are you serious?
No. I just feel like I am raising pansies.
*
[i]The conversation goes on. [/i]
Are they pansies? I don't really know. What makes you who you are? Your parents influence what they can--but aren't you predisposed to be someone?
I wake up finally when I step outside of the apartment building. And I remember this hilarious VH1 special saw on Britney Spears. Yeah, I watch VH1 sometimes..... The whole idea of the show was 'driven' to insinuate that she had so much drive to succeed. It was full of old music teachers, her preacher, her mom, and some old competition...It was generally sap. Clips of young Britney at Louisiana fairs singing her heart out. Pictures of her as a kid, performing in a nightgown.
But the thing that was most evident is how her mother wanted to defend how hard Britney worked. Her mom had some things to say about just wanting Britney to be a kid, and only following Britney's dreams when they pursued the Mickey Mouse thing and then later her career.
Hmmm. Just a thought- but what if someone had pushed you to perfom like that? I imagine your uneasiness in front of a crowd wears off over time, especially from the first steps you take on a stage. It will never be relived, you'll become numb to standing up there, the way the microphone fits in your hand will just become like holding a pencil. This will be your routine. You sing songs you don't quite understand--they aren't your lyrics, not what you think...but then someone will give you more of these songs and they will become what you think these songs mean, right?
Then you start making some money-- only a little at first, then a good steady trickle, and your parents decide its best to split the family so that your career can really begin.
You let stylists and makeup artists touch you everywhere, when you look at your cd cover, you don't look anything at all like what you really look like. And you're never scared in front of a crowd anymore.
Sometimes people say mean things about you and you don't know why. Your family uses all your money and people take advantage of you. You watch a VH1 special on you and you wonder when anyone asked you if it was alright. Your creative input is bust, because you long ago decided it was probably best for someone else to write your songs.
Then you're 21. Your whole life has been a moneymaking endeavor. Your angry and you don't know why, you have lost your innocence because thats what happens, right?
You'll never know who you could have been.
My sister isn't raising pansies. She is just raising children like any other parent. You make decisions because all you can think is what won't be harmful...consequences and thought processes, it seems-- go out the door.
I have to say I disagree with her ideas sometimes--because organic oatmeal is 6 dollars, the crappy stuff is 2 dollars. Because her kids love Mcnuggets but she insists they are vegans.
Oh well. At least we all weren't raised my Britney Spears' parents, right?
*
My sister calls my apartment this morning at 9:00 am my time, 9:00pm her time.
*
Bug?
Yes.
You awake?
Um, yeah. I mean I was getting up--about to get up.
Oh. Good. I was just up having a night cap.
Isn't it barely 9 over there?
Yes. But Eric put the kids to bed. I'm watching Baby Einstein again.
Shit. Wierdo.
Oh whatever, you have to throw out your exciting movies and porn when you have kids--its the law.
So whats up?
I think I am a bad mother.
Um, excuse me?
Yes. I actually don't think-- I know that I am bad mother.
Um. What? You a bad mother? Are you crazy? You are an amazing person and mother-- your children are so well- um, trained.
Exactly. You know that today the neighbors kids were playing in the mud and Jackie came running home to tattle on them?
So what? You want her in the mud?
No. But I want them to be mischevious, to be kids.
What did Sam do?
He just stood there, acting shy. My children are going to be losers. They'll be made fun of. And people will call Sam a momma's boy. And Jackie is a tattle. Oh gosh, and they have never even fought with eachother!
You want them to fight?
Yes!
Um, are you serious?
No. I just feel like I am raising pansies.
*
[i]The conversation goes on. [/i]
Are they pansies? I don't really know. What makes you who you are? Your parents influence what they can--but aren't you predisposed to be someone?
I wake up finally when I step outside of the apartment building. And I remember this hilarious VH1 special saw on Britney Spears. Yeah, I watch VH1 sometimes..... The whole idea of the show was 'driven' to insinuate that she had so much drive to succeed. It was full of old music teachers, her preacher, her mom, and some old competition...It was generally sap. Clips of young Britney at Louisiana fairs singing her heart out. Pictures of her as a kid, performing in a nightgown.
But the thing that was most evident is how her mother wanted to defend how hard Britney worked. Her mom had some things to say about just wanting Britney to be a kid, and only following Britney's dreams when they pursued the Mickey Mouse thing and then later her career.
Hmmm. Just a thought- but what if someone had pushed you to perfom like that? I imagine your uneasiness in front of a crowd wears off over time, especially from the first steps you take on a stage. It will never be relived, you'll become numb to standing up there, the way the microphone fits in your hand will just become like holding a pencil. This will be your routine. You sing songs you don't quite understand--they aren't your lyrics, not what you think...but then someone will give you more of these songs and they will become what you think these songs mean, right?
Then you start making some money-- only a little at first, then a good steady trickle, and your parents decide its best to split the family so that your career can really begin.
You let stylists and makeup artists touch you everywhere, when you look at your cd cover, you don't look anything at all like what you really look like. And you're never scared in front of a crowd anymore.
Sometimes people say mean things about you and you don't know why. Your family uses all your money and people take advantage of you. You watch a VH1 special on you and you wonder when anyone asked you if it was alright. Your creative input is bust, because you long ago decided it was probably best for someone else to write your songs.
Then you're 21. Your whole life has been a moneymaking endeavor. Your angry and you don't know why, you have lost your innocence because thats what happens, right?
You'll never know who you could have been.
My sister isn't raising pansies. She is just raising children like any other parent. You make decisions because all you can think is what won't be harmful...consequences and thought processes, it seems-- go out the door.
I have to say I disagree with her ideas sometimes--because organic oatmeal is 6 dollars, the crappy stuff is 2 dollars. Because her kids love Mcnuggets but she insists they are vegans.
Oh well. At least we all weren't raised my Britney Spears' parents, right?