Venting....

So in my 18 years of living with Scott and Pam (my parents), I have been grounded once. I forget what it was for, but I went outside and played with my friends anyway and I was about 11. In the past week, however, I have been yelled at and grounded more than ever. Maybe my parents are just trying to pass on some last minute wisdom before I head off to college, which they seem to think I will never come back from. They're acting like, once I'm gone, I'll be severing all contacts with them. Like I'm dead or something. Whatever. Anyway, so my mom asks me to go to the post office the other day, and I refuse, which I guess was pretty dumb and selfish of me considering my mom has such a hot temper. So I got reemed and I'm grounded from my car for a week, making my friends feel like my own personal chauffers. Great. Oh, but I was allowed to use my car to take my brother to tennis lessons. That wasn't so bad, considering his coach, Pat, is entirely adorable and a great conversationalist. I look forward to talking to this creative writing major with a mean serve, but my mom put the kabash on that by suddenly ending my brother's tennis lessons, giving me no excuse to go and talk to Pat or even say goodbye. Ugh. So today my parents went off to Cleveland for dinner and shopping and an eye doctor appointment (oo how romantic). My dad suggested that I take my brother swimming at Silver Lake Country Club's pool, a very safe and heavily lifeguarded pool. Well, I ask my mom about this and she throws a fit about the dangers of swimming (my brother is 13, by the way, and totally capable of swimming). She even says, and I quote "Why don't I just stick you and your brother out in the middle of the highway and let you stand there and see if you get hit by a car!!!!!!!" As if swimming is the equivalent to dodging traffic. She is so crazy. So I had to spend the rest of my afternoon sitting at home. I wasn't even allowed to drive to get dinner for my brother and I, so my mom handed me a box of crappy macaroni and cheese. MMM, delish. So apparently, she said something about feeding my brother at 6. You wouldn't believe this, but my brother can't tell when he's hungry. We have to force him to eat. No joke. It's like he's food retarded. If we didn't tell him to, he'd never eat. So I was busy doing my own thing and Alex was doing his thing so I ask him "hey, you want a hot dog" and he's like "fine" and I'm like "well, I'm going to go take a shower since James is coming over tonight and once I'm done, I'll make you dinner" Sounds reasonable. Well, in between getting out of the shower and microwaving a hot dog, my parents come home only to be completely dissapointed that their star student daughter has failed them for about the 3rd time in her life. It's terribly tragic for them so they have a fit about me not making Alex dinner at 6 and how my mom is trying to get him on a schedule so that he eats. They make it sound like the boy is anorexic, and while he does have issues, i think his biggest one is just being a lazy ass who like to complain and refuse to do everything anyone says. So I am just so sick of being yelled at for such petty shit that I just talk back. Then they give me this lecture about acting like an adult and taking responsibility, during which they reminded me that "You're 18!" Gee, thanks, didn't know. Most 18 year olds don't have to take care of food retarded kids. And if we're all being adults here, shouldn't I be allowed to have my say in the argument? Oh no, that's back talk because during arguments, I'm a child, but during everything else, I'm supposed to be a 40 year old minidrivin' mom. So James is supposed to come over and he calls while I'm getting reemed, yet again, and I'm like "You know, probably not a good idea to come over" I hate having to do that, but I hate even more when my parents are pissed off at me in front of my friends. And I had just put my make up on too, so that's really depressing. So I'm just sitting here, all dressed up with no where to go. All because I didn't feed my brother at 6. My mom came in while I was writing this because she's wondering what else is going on because I'm not acting like myself. You know what? Nothing else is going on at all. Maybe I'm just really tired of being the perfect daughter and thinking things instead of saying them. Maybe I just decided to actually try and argue my side, like adults do. This whole "let's give Elise all the lectures she missed out on while she was being a goody-tooshoes before she goes off to college" thing is wearing thin. I mean, what is something like taking away my car going to do for my behavior at home in the next 2 months? Honestly, it's so ridiculous. Guess I'm just a terrible person for not wanting to keep quiet anymore and actually wanting to say something back to my parents after 18 years. Apparently, when I do that, I must have something else like drugs or a break up or some sort of terminal ailment on the side that makes me want to do something as terrible as that. Grrrrr. Maybe all the teenage angst I didn't have during high school is finally surfacing. Great timing if that's so. So in conclusion: I'll miss my family when I go off to college, but I won't miss being treated like a 5 year old while being expected to act like a 35 year old.