Dotty
Shhh… Dotty here. I need a little help! My daughter wants to go out on a date. It’s not that I don’t trust her. I’m not sure what I think about him. Don’t get me wrong; he’s a darling guy. But when you get to be my age, you learn looks can be deceiving.
All the same, young love is sweet. At least that’s what I thought, until I chaperoned that dance. Etta and I found kids hiding back stage.
We knew where to look, that was our hang out. That’s where I got my first kiss. From Jack Rake. He was a hottie. I’m going to look him up on facebook.
Lisa (Dotty’s Daughter)
Mom is trying to trick me into spending my date night with her and grandma. I’m on to it. She says, it’s “family game night,” but we don’t have game nights.
Will and I want to hang out at Ben’s. His folks are great. Ben’s girlfriend is my BFF. His parents have a big-screen TV and oversized sofas. We’re going to order pizza, watch the British version of ‘Death at a Funeral’ and laugh our heads off.
Dotty’s Mother
Dotty and Lisa are at it again. I understand. I used to worry silly about Dotty when she was young. Worrying is something I’ve given up. When you get to be my age, you’ve seen so many changes: the world changes around you and you change with it. I’ve learned life has a divine and loving flow and that we can’t control it or each other. We can love our kids. We can talk straight to them about the birds and the bees and we can give them all the tools they might need. When you empower your kids, you can let go and enjoy the ride!
Pockets
Dotty is being a control freak. We dogs understand that humans are like this. “Sit,” “stay” “rollover”…
Excuse me! Roll over? Who says that?
I know she’s worried about that kid. She just doesn’t know how to work with Lisa in a direct and loving way.
Sandy (Dotty’s shrink)
Ms. X texted me four times tonight. Most of my patients think they are the only fish in the sea. One of them thinks that he is the sea! We’ll talk about him later. Ms. X is having a fit. She’s concerned about her daughter.
Parents don’t know how to relate to their kids. Parents never have. We descended from a culture of people who treated each other with a profound lack of respect. Did you know that during Roman times a man could kill his wife and child if they displeased him? We have to look at where we came from and where we want to go. If you do this, you realize we are in the middle: learning how to respect, love and nurture each other. Some of us are better at it than others. And this is where you come in. Maybe you can help. Ask yourself: How can you love the people in your life more? How can you respect them more? And, how can you require that they love and respect you more, too?
