Teenage Trouble
I have a special place in my heart for my godson Miguel, my aunt’s son. Growing up, Meggy was a rambunctious kid, always getting into mischief.
Since my aunt worked the graveyard shift at the hospital, my family took care of him until he was 2 years old. We were often the victims of his “schemes”.
One day I came home from school to find an entire box of crushed cereal dumped on the floor of my bedroom. Another time he broke all of my CD’s in half and threw the pieces around my house.
Even though we kept our eyes on him at all times, somehow he still managed to get himself into life-threatening situations. From jumping out of the van onto a freeway ramp to unscrewing a glass door that fell on his head while we were asleep, Meggy kept life “exciting” for our family.
But I love that little bundle of trouble/joy. Until I moved to Hell-A, I spent a lot of quality time with him. I helped him with his math homework, his science fair projects, and his student council campaigns. I even volunteered to be an assistant coach on his soccer team.
Before I got into the U-Haul truck to leave Chicago, I remember looking at his teary puppy dog eyes, my heart heavy.
“I’ll miss you, Manay Jamie Lou.”
Now, my involvement is limited to yearly visits, monthly phone conversations, and occasional chats online, giving him money for school fundraisers, and sending birthday gifts.
He grows up a little more each time I see him. I can’t believe that next month Meggy will be 14. In May I will be attending his 8th grade graduation.
I feel sad when I think about how much I’m missing out on his life.
Yesterday morning I talked to his mom and got the latest scoop. My aunt recently purchased a cell phone for him, since he has asthma and stays after school late for track practice. Within a month, he was called into the school office. He was in trouble for making a prank phone call to a classmate, threatening his classmate to purchase weed. (The principal had to explain to my aunt that weed is marijuana.) The joke backfired when his classmate’s parent answered the phone, received the message, and traced the call back to Meggy’s phone.
At first, I was skeptical when my aunt insisted that Meggy did not make the call. He accused his best friend Daniel of stealing his phone and making the call without his knowledge.
“C’mon, Auntie, you’re so naive. You don’t even know what weed is. How can you believe what he said?”
“No, Daniel came forward and didn’t let Meggy take the blame. He was already punished by his mom, and I’ve restricted Meggy to only use the phone for emergencies.”
Yeah, right. I’m sure that he’ll forget about this incident soon and the phone bill will skyrocket, especially since Meggy is a pretty popular kid. Who knows what kind of trouble he’ll get into next?
OK, I know this sounds innocent enough, Meggy wasn’t the one to blame, and I was less than perfect when I was younger. But I am still in shock that he was involved in this scandal. After all, he’s my little baby! He’s not supposed to know what drugs are yet.
*SIGH*
I suggested that my aunt get a new phone, one that only allows Meggy to call numbers programmed into the phone. My aunt said that she’s bound to a 2-year contract with Cingular.
I guess all I can do at this point is call and write more often and hope for the best.
God, I want to have kids someday, but if this is what it’s like to be a mom, I think I’ll wait it out for a looooong while.
October 31st, 2005 at 7:11 pm
so i so did not know that happened. i knew that meggie had some sort of falling out with daniel. i told him to be careful of him. that daniel is a troubled boy but incredibly sweet. i thought they might influence each other positively, especially since he’s been going to church with them.
anyway, GO WHITE SOX. once i figure out how to send my pics that i took on my phone from the rally, i’ll send them to you. you are the computer genius in the fam, not me. and no matter what G says, CHICAGO RULES. and once a chicagoan, always a chicagoan. as my fellow chicagoan george wendt would says, “DA WHITE SOX!”
ironic how we were just talking about having kids. and you posted a blog.
love you and miss you big sis!
November 1st, 2005 at 12:57 pm
OMG! Does this mean his voice has changed?
November 4th, 2005 at 9:55 am
okay so the saga continues…
let me just begin that i do not want our little cousin (and i use the term little loosely) hanging out with that boy. i mean, he almost let him take the fall for a “joke”. maybe it’s me getting older, or maybe it’s me being the “conservative” one of the hilao kids but i know what drugs can do to people later on in life. i’ve seen it. maybe not everything…but i’ve seen kids hurt and a marriage crumble.
i know it’s a stretch for me to think about what could happen long term, but i don’t think that auntie knows the ramifications of what something like this can do to a kid early on. danny could keep on using his friendship with miguel to cover up his own indiscretions.
anyway, my point (sorry i always seem to go off on tangents) is that now auntie is not allowing meggie and katleya to go visit jaden. the only way she will let them go is if i drive both meggie and danny after his meet tomorrow. i refused to do so, and auntie refused to let them go.
but, i don’t want to be responsible for that kid.
the clincher is that i was told i am being “unchristian” for my decision because danny already apologized.
apology, my @$$. i don’t want him hanging around that kid, and he himself admitted to me he doesn’t want to hang out with him anyway.
just had to rage….