Hi! It’s me! Lily!!!
Tomorrow’s Friday! Yaaaaaayyyy!!!
So today I had lots to do. I practiced piano, I studied Japanese, I ate lunch, and then I went out to work on the lawnmower. I opened the little hoody thing and just kind of stared at it for a while. It had wires and hoses and belts and… stuff! Lots of stuff!!! I didn’t even know where to start!!!
So I put the hoody thing back on and went to study something else.
Dave asked me later after he was done with work what I’d done, and I said “nothing.”
“Nothing? I thought I told you…”
“I lifted the hoody thing and looked inside, then I gave up.”
“You didn’t even try?”
“Try what?”, I said frustratedly. “I guess I could turn the key, then what? I don’t know the first thing about how to fix one of those. And you just tell me to fix it! You guys did the same thing with David, telling him to cook dinner when he’d never even held a measuring cup! What do you expect from us anyway?”
“I expect you to try!”
“Try what?,” I almost shouted. “Try sticking my hand in a lawnmower without knowing what could hurt me? Try getting hurt? I appreciate what you’re trying to do but I need to be taught, not just left to hurt myself. You told David he couldn’t use the lab without me or Beth, why don’t you care if I get hurt?”
“Of course I care, Lily.”
I sighed. “I’m not working on that without someone to teach me.”
“Lily -“
“No,” I said. “I’m not working on that without someone to teach me. I want to learn, but not like that. You can fail me or whatever, but I’m not doing it.” I turned around and walked up the stairs.
I’d never talked to Dave like that before. I don’t think he liked it much. I didn’t really care.
I love Dave and Sabby, but they’re not perfect.
Sabby came up to my room a little later and sat down next to me on the bed.
“You shouldn’t have talked to Dave like that,” she said, reprovingly.
“Maybe not, but I did,” I said. “And I meant it.”
She sighed. “You were right,” she said. “You could have been a little more diplomatic about it, but you’re right. We’re supposed to be your teachers, not your doctoral sponsors.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means we’re treating you like a college student, not a high school student.”
“Is Dave mad at me?”
“He’s a little hurt. But he’ll get over it.” She patted my knee. “Come eat dinner.”
Dinner was quiet. Thankfully.
After dinner, Dave and Sabby sat the three of us down and told us that while we’re still expected to learn things from the lab and from working on our projects, that he’ll be more involved in that part of our education. He told us that that means we might have to do some stuff in the evenings, but he and Sabby will make it fair so maybe some days we can take an afternoon off.
That’s all I wanted.
He immediately took me out to the garage, popped the hoody thing, and we started to troubleshoot the lawn mower together. Turns out it’d crank, but not start. But I feel better about it with him guiding me.
They’re not perfect. They make mistakes. But what makes them good parents is they’ll admit it. That’s one reason I love them.
Liz and Crystal comes over tomorrow! And I hear Allison has a big event this weekend! Wish I could go!!!