My Life - Chapter 14 - Secrets

That's me  - 9th grade, age 14.
(School Picture Day photo 1977)

Every Sunday since January started, I've been answering a question sent by Storyworth.  It's a Christmas gift from our boys.  This week's question is what did you hide from your parents as a child? 

The event which comes to mind let my know that my parents were smarter and knew a lot more than I thought they did. 

My Dad had a job interview in Texas over a weekend.  He must have been a finalist for the job, because Mom went along and they took my two-year old sister.  

That left me, a 9th grader, home alone.

My friend suggested I should have a party.  Well, I never was (and still not) much of a partier, but....

He was invited along with another guy from our class.  They each invited a girl and I asked my girlfriend to come.

My friend and I strategized how the evening should go and I moved some furniture around temporarily.  The biggest move was bringing the bean bag chair down from the third floor.

We had pizza, snacks, and soda.  My friend brought over some albums to play on the stereo.  

A ninth graders, none of us drove.  My friend lived next door so he walked over as did our mutual friend, the girls were dropped off by their parents.

It went great, I had my first kiss. I thought it went pretty well for my first party.

After the girls were picked up and the guys went home, I started to clean because my parents were coming home by Sunday and I wanted to return things to normal.  That's when I realized using the bean bag chair wasn't a good idea as a seam broke spilling hundreds of tiny Styrofoam balls on the living room carpet.

Did I mention that I didn't clear the idea of inviting friends and girls over with Mom and Dad?  No, I did not.  I wanted to clean the house to perfection.  I cleaned the pan we used to bake the pizza and all the utensils.  I vacuumed the entire first floor.  I picked up every one of those little Styrofoam balls.

Mom, Dad, and Danielle returned late Sunday afternoon.  

Everything was fine.  Nothing was said.  

It worked, I hosted a small get-together, had a wonderful time, and didn't get in trouble!  All was good.

Time passed.

A year later my parents went away with my sister overnight somewhere.  As they were about to walk out the door to get in the car and drive away, Mom turned to me and said, "This time, you are not allowed to have anyone over."

I can only imagine how far my jaw dropped.  Mom knew, and she waited for the right moment to let me know that while I may have thought I got away with something, it turned out she had known for a long-time.   

Neither she or my dad punished me for that unauthorized party, but learning that my secret party wasn't so secret after all was enough to end my career as a party host.