What Have I Become?

I never thought I would hear myself utter the words,"’I sound like my parents." But it happened. When I said it, I did so in a half-joking manner, but now that I think about it more, I don’t think I was joking. Let me explain…

We’re staying at the Crowne Plaza Hotel here in Macon, GA where Kim is attending a two-day seminar on teen substance abuse. In addition to having this event for mental health professionals, there’s been some sort of event for high school FFA clubs going on. Not a big deal, right? Wrong.

Our end of the hall probably has around five or six rooms of teenagers. I was made aware of this fact by the increase of traffic in the stairwell next to our room and in the hallway outside of our room. For a better part of the day, I could hear kids walking from room to room, slamming doors here and there. I could hear kids stomping their feet up and down the stairwell. (I joked to Kim that it sounded like they "brought their cows with 'em". She didn’t get it right away.) Anyway, until about midnight I "tolerated" these inconsiderate kids as they galavanted up and down the hallway and stairwell. At midnight, I did what my parents would have done: I called the front desk and complained.

Typically, I wouldn't care. I’m a heavy sleeper. Noise doesn't bother me. Now that I have a fourth-and-a-half month old, though, noise has to be a concern for me.

So, back to the realization that Kim and I had in the car… We are becoming our parents, because we are parents. So, if we sound like our parents… maybe that’s not such a bad thing.