Listening

When you take a stand for yourself, the outcome is not always what it should be.

When I spotted my mom's white CRV rolling into the pick-up line in front of the junior high school, I slid into the passenger seat and threw my bag in the back seat. As we pulled away from the school and drove through the streets, I reminded my mom of the upcoming band concert.

At this, she whipped her eyes from the road to me, and said in that annoying I'm-fed-up-with-you-voice,
"Why didn't you tell me before now!"

This really pushed my buttons! I had told her two days before about the exact same event and, as always, she didn't remember. I could not take her anymore! I had to take a stand for myself!

"You never listen! I told you already," I blurted a little too loudly.

Now my mom is not one of those parents you talk back to , and after I said this, I wished I could rewind the scene and draw the words back. A fiery look entered her eyes and I had a moment of fear in which I thought she might slap me, but to my relief she just yelled,
"I always listen! I must have been doing something important when you told me!"

My first reaction was to stop talking but then I thought,
"I'm already in trouble, I might as well get my point across," and tried to calmly reply, "You were sitting in the living room and shopping on your lap top."

There was a moment of silence as she realized I was right and searched for a recovery.
"Well, you are grounded!"

And that was that; there was no explanation why and I knew better than to say anymore. That was the first time I had been grounded and all I was doing was standing up for myself.

My mom still does not listen.