Times Are A-Changin'

As I think about what our upcoming move to small town, North Carolina will mean for us all, I can't help but dwell on how Parker's childhood and adolescence will differ from ours.

In my mind's eye, I see Parker racing down the ski slopes and attending intense outdoorsy summer camps filled with camping, canoeing and white water rafting. We'll spend our Friday nights attending his football/baseball/swimming/lacrosse events (it varies from daydream to daydream) and we'll spend our winters in front of the fires on family movie night...until he hits 14 and he locks himself in his room to listen to death metal (wait, does death metal still exist?)

There won't be a bar within 40 miles that he can sneak into underaged since all of the bartenders know that he's the professor's kid (and she tips verrry well). So, his version of trouble will be driving fast on the mountains without headlights, and while dangerous, doesn't hold a candle to the streets of south Florida.

Ah, south Florida. I remember the hookers and drug deals that we used to pass by on our way to the mall...learning to drive on I-95 where every other driver was determined to take you out...knowing the exact change in atmosphere when a fight was about to break out in school...I'm getting nostalgic.

I'm not sure if you know this, but there's a particular expression that you learn in big cities that says in no uncertain terms "do not approach me." To this day, that's my default expression and a number of people have come up to me and said, "I saw you at the gym/grocery store/park yesterday, but you looked really angry so I didn't say anything." I just chuckle and think, "It still works."

Yes, south Florida was a bit rough around the edges and there's a time or two that I wonder how I came out of it unscathed, but it definitely taught me about survival and that knowledge has served me well over the years. I have a very well-developed sense of "stranger danger" and even though I look like a preppy, fresh-faced coed, I can definitely hold my own in prison.

I wonder sometimes if we're making the right choice for Parker. I intend to teach him about poverty and crime and the streets, but hearing about it and seeing it are two different things. I guess we'll have to wait and see, but in the meantime, I can instill the fear of God in him and hope that he takes my word for it.