My Friend and Goody-Two-Shoes Me

I was thinking about my old high school friend again this morning. She’s been smoking pot, having too much sex and screwing up all around. It’s made me realize what a goody-two shoes I really am

Here’s a list of some of the worst things I did as a kid and teenager.

I once asked my dad if I could go to my friends house after asking my mom and having her say no. Dad said yes so I went.

I cut the cats hair with scissors a couple times.

I didn’t clean my room.

I spent the night with a boyfriend in a hotel while saying I was at a band related sleepover.

I ran away from home.

I had my future hubby in town without my dads knowledge.

All in all these things aren’t all that bad. The last three are the worst but they weren’t horrible. Even when I WAS breaking rules I did so responsibly for the most part. I never drank and drove and I’ve never done drugs, not even pot. When I did have sex I used birth control and made sure the person was trustworthy. Running away from home was probably the most irresponsible thing I’ve ever done. Everything else I handled in as mature a way as a person sneaking around behind their parents back can. I was trying to break out and explore the world a little, something that wasn’t allowed. If my dad had his way I still wouldn’t even know what sex even was and I’d still live at home. My dad turned the channel when there was a sexual scene (even if they weren’t showing anything) when I was 18 years old. Also, when I was 18 he still turned the channel if King of the Hill was on. It was too “mature”. If my dad had his way I’d never grow up.

All in all I think I turned out okay. It shocks me when people my age haven’t grown out of doing the things that I did as a teenager. At 22 I work full time, own a home, pay my bills on time, take care of the house and many pets. I don’t have time for drinking and being stupid. My friend said she almost got arrested because the guy she was with was drunk and being stupid. The closest I ever came to anything like that was once when I was with my friends Matt and Nancy. My Datsun was parked in the street and we were standing around with the bass booming and we were talking and laughing. A neighbor called the cops. An officer showed up and said he’d gotten a call that a few kids were being loud and drinking. We were being loud but we certainly weren’t drinking anything but Cokes. He asked who the owner of the car was and I said I was. He asked if he could look in the car and I said sure. He looked around, sniffed my coke can and said everything was alright and scoffed at the neighbor that had called. I asked if he’d like me to turn down the sterio and he said “No, have fun”.

Most of my “fun” has been so innocent. I’m not saying that people who drink and go to bars and stuff are wrong. I just think it’s funny because my whole life I’ve thought I was pretty bad-ass. The world my friend lives in is a WHOLE lot different from my little world. Her world is a mystery to me and it’s hard for me to come up with advice when she asks me things. I mean, it’s easy for me to say “Well, if you don’t want to get arrested don’t hang out with those people”. It sounds obvious to someone like me but it’s not easy to just ditch your friends.

I fear she’s going to get mad at my little good-two-shoe’s ass. She hasn’t written back since I sent her a response to yesterdays questions. I told her maybe she shouldn’t hang out with the people that almost got her arrested. And if she was that afraid of getting pregnant maybe she should get herself to the planned parenthood clinic and get a morning after pill and a birth control prescription. I feel like Dr. Phil, mr. master of the obvious, wham-bam, obvious advice man.

I watch Dr. Phil sometimes, certainly not because I believe in what he says. It’s more of a shock and awe kind of thing. That man is a disgrace. I feel sorry for the poor people that go on the show. He tells them an obvious temporary “solution” to their problems. Something and joe blow from the street could figure out. What a lot of these people need is therapy. I can’t imagine how anything he’s doing is helping anyone, if anything he’s hurting them in the long run by making them think they can solve their problems by “thinking happy thoughts about themselves” or solving money problems by “getting rid of their cat”.

Anyway, I couldn’t think of anything to say to my friend other than the obvious temporary solution. Hopefully I’ll hear from her again soon. I’d like to coax her into therapy or something. She’s got issues from the past with her parents and school and stuff. I share a lot of her same problems, not fitting in, having an over-protective dad. The difference between us is that her way of dealing with her problems is unhealthy and dangerous.

Anyway, I should go.