Friday, February 29, 2008

Tricked into a Party




A week or so, Kate started talking about her friend Katie's 18th birthday. After school, a group of girls were going to take her to the Fractured Prune (I swear this really is the name of a gourmet donut place in College Park) to celebrate.

On Tuesday, Kate asked if it would be okay if they came to the house to hang out a while after the party. I agreed but reminded Kate that she was at John's that night.

On Wednesday, Kate asked if it would be possible for a couple of girls to spend the night -- it would be "a dream come true". I asked how many girls there would be. "Just three of us." She assured me that Katie's mom would take them to the Fractured Prune and bring them back. Oh, what the heck. I agreed.

At 7:00 p.m. on Friday, I'm anxiously waiting for Darryl. We've got a date! The phone rings at 7:10. Kate and her four friends need a ride back to the house. Turns out Katie's mom decided she couldn't pick them up. Grrr. That was not part of the plan! So, I get the girls and bring them back. Turns out they are all staying the night. As we're pulling out of the driveway, another girl pulls up to the house with her sleeping bag.

Should I be irritated that I was tricked into having a full fledged slumber party? Maybe. But I thought how great it was that high school girls are choosing to hang out together, that Kate has such nice friends, that they have the thoughtfulness and initiative to make a friend's birthday special, that they feel comfortable in our house, and that they're safe and happy.

When Darryl and I got home, we asked the girls if they wanted us to order a pizza, but they'd just fixed themselves dinner -- Cheerios! We rounded up some chocolate kisses and brownies for their dessert and went upstairs to bed to leave them to their party.

2 comments:

Joni said...

Isn't that the truth? I have thought that many times myself. Creating an environment so the kids and their friends WANT to be at your house. It's all good!

Unknown said...

Oh how fun for them. You guys were so nice, even after the "big news" to offer to cook some food for them. Give everyone a big hug for me.