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Melody's Diary Entries Diary Navigation: Choose A Diary Entry -------------------- Latest Entry: 6/27/00 -------------------- 6/18/00 6/6/00 5/19/00 5/14/00 5/12/00 5/8/00 4/5/00 4/1/00 3/27/00 3/9/00 3/8/00 3/7/00 3/1/00 2/8/00 2/7/00 -------------------- Melody's Introduction

June 18, 2000

The Saga Never Ends!

Last night I got home from work at around 10 p.m. After a long, stressful day I was ready to just relax and take it easy. Did this happen? Of course not!

"Mom," said Jeremy, "we have to drive to the San Jose bus station before midnight tonight. That's the only way I can get a cheap ticket to Oregon."

When I inquired as to why my 16-year-old son needed a bus ticket to Oregon and why we had to be there before midnight, he informed me that his brother and all of their friends were headed up to Oregon next week for the "Country Fair" which takes place every year in a small town outside Eugene, Oregon. And, now Jeremy had the chance to get a ticket as well, and if we got there before midnight, the round trip ticket was only $50.

"No way!" I yelled. "You're out of your mind!" Jeremy's older brother is 19 years old now, so he could do pretty much anything he wanted. Besides, I didn't want to drive all the way into a bad neighborhood of downtown San Jose when I was exhausted on a Friday night. I didn't even know where the Greyhound bus station was.

"Please, Mom! It's not fair! You let Steve go when he was 16. Everyone is going, Jamie, Bones, Chris, even my girlfriend. I've GOTTA go."

I gave in. Perhaps in the back of my mind I knew I would. And, I knew deep in my heart that even though the trip sounded kind of scary for a teenager that Jeremy would be OK because he'd be with a whole group of friends who, although they drove me crazy sometimes, had their hearts in the right places, and he was already pretty independent. I still worried about finding the bus station, though.

As we drove toward downtown San Jose to find this Golden discount ticket, I thought to myself, "There must be a more peaceful place -- a place where life doesn't seem so hectic and crazy all the time!" Sometimes I think I'm going crazy because even though my teenagers are older now, the saga never seems to end.

Like the other day, my boys called me at work and asked me to help them cash their paychecks. Apparently, both of them had lost their picture ID cards. How does this happen? So, I took them to the bank, and the teller almost didn't cash Jeremy's check because it was drawn on some obscure account in Ohio, but the other teller knew me and had seen me at the bank branch many times, so she said to go ahead and help us out. And, then she said to me:

"Melody, how come your life is such a drama?"

I was taken aback. This was a bank teller who only saw me in passing every now and again. She knew who I was, and how does she know my life is a drama?! Well, perhaps my life really IS a drama. Perhaps raising three very independent and unique teenagers helps to create the drama. It's so hard to explain sometimes.

I thought of all this as we turned down this street in downtown San Jose and Jeremy kept giving me instructions to "turn left" and "turn right" although he wasn't sure because they all forgot to give me specific instructions to this bus station. However, they had "general" instructions. After turning down streets full of nightclubs and questionable people standing in front of them, we finally found the Greyhound bus terminal because we saw a bus and followed it!

So, Jeremy was thrilled because he got his ticket to Oregon. And, I realize he's my youngest of the teenagers, and that soon these teenagers will all be grown-ups. And, the drama of their lives will be over. And, even though I long for peace and quiet, something I never get, I will probably miss the chaos and the drama.

Then again, Megan is 7 years old. Giver her five or six more years. And, the saga begins all over again!