Those Kids These Days

This weekend Jake and I went to Purdue for a "tailgating" party of sorts at his friend Nick's brother's house. (Did you get all of that?) Nick's brother, Andy, lives in the typical college boy's house with three to four more guys (I am not really sure on the number because there were a lot of college-aged young gentleman coming in and out all day). By typical college boy's house I mean a house filled with mismatched furniture, 70s style wood paneling, TVs on the front porch, mangled bikes on the side of the house -- you get the picture.

When we first got to his house, I was filled with feelings of nostalgia. The air was crisp and the autumn trees were beautiful. What a perfect college moment! We decided to walk down the street, into campus to visit my friend Laurin's little sister in the dorms. I secretly pretended to be a Purdue college student, going to the Big Game. I felt as though I should be walking down the street with an armful of books, and Jake, my gentleman suitor, should be wearing a letterman's jacket. Tra la laa, tra laa laaa. Oh what fun it is to be in college again!

The more kids we passed on the street the more I became painfully aware that I was OLD. Every single person was talking on a cell phone. Every single person was working on a lap top. Everywhere.

And, then, there is the moment when you are reminded what college kids are like when they drink. I, of course, would not know what that is like. I mean, I never rollerbladed in someone's basement, while painting on the walls with detergent. Uh uh. Not I.

For some reason when we saw the antics of the "kids these days" it kind of gave me a sense of relief that I was over doing those things. For example, Kyle Orton (well, he was wearing the jersey and pads all day, so that's what we called him) was playing catch with some of the guys in front of the house. I am not really sure what happened but the football got caught in the tree. Everyone knows that to get a football out of the tree you must throw something bigger into the tree. So, a green plastic chair was flung up there. Then, I think to just add a nice little trio, someone grabbed the mangled bike sitting next to the house and hung it on a branch. I suppose, to just balance it all out. I think all of this tree throwing stuff got one of the guys all excited, because all of the sudden he emerged from the back of the house holding a pumpkin, like someone had just given it to him. He then proceeded to walk to the edge of the street and tossed it into oncoming traffic saying, "I do what I want!" then he laughed maniacally. At this point I could sense that Jake was becoming uncomfortable.

"Come on guys," he pleaded. "There's no need to throw things into oncoming traffic." But the plea went unheard, and the kids looked at him as if he was the oldest, uncoolest thing ever in the world. If he wasn't holding a beer at the time, he might have gotten a pumpkin to the head. I looked at Jake's nervous face and then back to the pumpkin flinging college students. I started walking Jake away from the situation so he wouldn't sweat anymore than he had to. (Plus, I heard Kyle Orton triumphantly say he was going to climb the tree.)

The transition had been made. We had officially crossed to the dark side. I shrugged my shoulders and led Jake to the back where the other adults were, a.k.a. parents. We were now one of them, and there was nothing we could do about it.

All and all I think I am okay with the crossover. We may not be climbing trees and throwing pumpkins anytime soon, but we still do some stupid things. Now we just learned how to be a little more discreet about it.