"We met on the chat line..."

Yesterday I ran into a teen boy that I got to know a little bit last year. T was sitting on a fence, waiting for his shoes to dry (that could be a whole story in itself). Here's the way our conversation went:

D (me): So, how are things going?

T: Pretty good. I'm getting ready to move to South Carolina.

D: South Carolina? What's there?

T: I'm going to live with my girlfriend.

D: Oh, ok. Do you have a job lined up yet?

T: Yeah, at Burger King.

(Don't laugh yet...it gets better)

D: So, when are you moving?

T: At the end of this week.

D: Geez, you really are moving soon! How'd you meet your girlfriend?

T: We met on the chat line. I figured, now that we've talked for a while, we might as well meet.

D: Wait a minute...you've never met her, and you're moving in with her?!?! What if she's, like, 80 years old and 800 pounds or something???

(I know, I'm a little dramatic sometimes)

T just stares, with a surprised expression on his face.

D: You know she could be lying right? That's pretty crazy to just move in with her when you've never met her.

T: Yeah, I guess maybe we'll just meet this time. I don't know. (with a smirk) I guess she could be 80 years old.

D: And 800 pounds.

(We both kind of laughed for a second)

D: Well, best of luck to you.



Just another crazy day in the neighborhood...

Rejection

One of our girls, K, is pregnant. 5 months or so, now. About a month ago Suzanne and I took her out to dinner to talk to her about her pregnancy, what her plans were, and to make sure she knew all of her options. Overall, it went very well. We had dinner, then went over to Target to pick up some maternity clothes for her, as she could no longer button her jeans. Later, I went out and picked up one more outfit for her. Everytime we've seen her since then, she's been wearing one outfit or the other, so it was clear that she needed some more clothes. When we were out the first time, we told her that we'd see if we could find some more for her, and she said that sounded fine.

Fast forward to today. A friend of ours bought several outfits for K, and I had picked up another piece or two as well. They've been sitting at my house for a week or two. Today we saw K at her grandma's house, and she didn't speak to us. At all. I figured that she must've just woken up or something -- a lot of our kids are pretty grouchy if they're tired. Later we ran to my house to pick up the bag of clothes to take to her. Suzanne jumped out of the car and took them over to K. To our surprise/dismay/hurt/??? K, with a hardened look on her face, said "I don't want them. I don't need them." And turned away.

I don't know what happened in the last month. I don't know why she's so angry with us, but it's clear something has happened. I wonder if it's the "charity" thing, that maybe someone said something to her about it. I don't know. At this point, I don't even view it as charity. She's a friend, a loved one. Whether she needed maternity clothes or not, I still would have wanted to buy her some, just because it's so exciting.

Anyhow, it didn't bother me so much at the moment, but the more I think about it, the more it saddens me. In a deep, deep way.