The Revolt of The-Youngest

Oh, that time comes for all parents, doesn’t it? That time when your children want to get away from you, do more than you have energy to do, to get out on their own and see the world.

Or at least see New York.

The-Youngest started his campaign last night, wanting to wander around the neighbourhood. I was too exhausted to go with him. His brother was nearly passed out on the couch. His mom had walked all day and had had enough.

He said he could go by himself.

His mother said no. It was New York City, not a suburb in Vancouver. There are gangs, whacked-out homeless people, serial killers, rats, rabid dogs and things that lurk in the sewers.

He pointed out that Vancouver has all the same things.

He didn’t win the argument.

So, he said he wanted to get up early tomorrow and grab some tickets to another musical. The Outsiders. By himself.

Seems that this was the greatest musical of all time. The only problem – we had failed a day or two earlier by arriving for a 10am ticket sale at 10am. Silly Canadians.

So, The-Youngest said he’d get up early. I said I’d go with him. I don’t know why I said that, but I did. No one else came forth to volunteer. They were way too smart.

The next day, July 10^th, The-Prettiest-Girl-in-the-World had a celebrity hangover and confirmed she had no desire to go, while The-Oldest said he needed sleep more than he needed to do, well, anything.

The Youngest and I left about 7:15. The weather today: 50% chance of clouds and rain. 10% chance of thunderstorms. 100% chance to be wrong.

We made good time. Not a cloud in the sky.

Man, The-Youngest was good at navigation, but more importantly, he was 100% aware of his surroundings, like some sort of Russian spy with great hair. He was aware of the people to steer clear of, capable of seeing a sign on the side of a wall hidden by a sign that said there was no sign, and could even navigate using only the GPS in his head.

He’s grown up so much. He’s become so much more capable than I ever was at his age.

Sadly, though, when we arrived at the theater, there were already a bunch of nutters who had gotten up even earlier, brought foldout chairs (what a great idea) and camped out. But we didn’t give up.

We sat down on the pavement, (making me realize how painful it was for old-Joe to sit on the pavement) and chatted and waited and chatted and waited and waited and looked at our phones and waited.

We had a plan. We only needed two seats. One for him, one for his brother. No seats? Get standing room. No standing rooms slots? Cry. He was to tell them he was an orphan who escaped from the Ukraine after his whole family and dog had been killed and eaten by Russians.

Sadly, none of those things worked. All tickets were gone by the time we reached the ticket booth.

Drat.

So, we do what boys do when they fail to achieve their goal. We improvised. We adapted. We overcame. We went and bought tickets to another show. The Book of Mormon.

Then, to reward ourselves, we went shoe shopping. Yup. Shoe. Shopping. More of a reward for him than me, since I still wear the same, super comfy hiking boots I bought back in the 2000’s (and smell like a skunk died in them).

However, there’s no doubt that The-Youngest loves to shop, so we went to a shoe store the size of a city block and wandered around three floors full of shoes. He touched them all, tried on a few, and chose a great pair. Still cheaper than Canada, he said.

I didn’t doubt him.

I thought about embarrassing him by grabbing every shoe I could find and asking him to “Smell this one. So good, right?” Or by yelling at him from across the room, “Hey, they have the pink ones with white lace that you’re looking for over here.”

But he was having so much fun, I just couldn’t wreck it.

Afterwards, we wandered around the streets a bit, something both he and I love to do, and found the perfect pizza place. Joe’s Pizza. According to The-Youngest’s app, it was only 4.2/5 but I said for me, a fellow Joe, it would be 5.0

I loved that we spent that time together. Chatting with him, seeing the sights with him, people-watching with him, all totally worth the torture of me sitting on the sidewalk for 2 hours. My body would disagree, of course, but my soul was happy.

We had some deep talks.

Sure, he worries about all the things someone worries about when out of high school – things I worried about and things I didn’t because I had The-Margot. Thing is, though, he’s got lots of friends, family, and people who will be there to support and encourage him.

Plus, he’s got a plan for his life. He thinks things through. He’s a GREAT salesman. He’s way smarter than he thinks, and he’s even become charming. More surprisingly, he’s even become considerate.

So much has changed in such a short time. Not long ago, he was this little cherub-cheeked kid who couldn’t tie his skates and now, he’s someone who probably would do better in NYC than me (at least far less likely to get lost).

You just never know when magic moments will happen, but I had one with The-Youngest on this day.

Just us two. 

I will remember it for the rest of my life.