Over the past weekend I spent a lot of time with my son and his
friends. They're in 8th grade now and life is getting pretty
interesting for them. My son and his best friend spent the night
together on Friday, which was a laid back affair because they'd spent
the evening at the high school football game. I wrote about that this
time last year and things are not so much different now except the
boys each have girlfriends to hang all over and vice versa. Their peer
group didn't see a moment of the game, they were totally tuned in to
each other. I watched from a discreet distance and even then when my
son caught my eye he realized I could see what he was up to and he and
his entourage moved off to somewhere out of my line of sight. The boys
were pretty high energy and the girls were the center of attention. It
was funny to see my son and his buddies in a sort of frenetic orbit
around a small gaggle of girls. The boys spent a lot of energy but
succeeded in only getting a couple of kisses and hugs. That's sex in
the 8th Grade, which is just fine by me.
The situation reversed itself on Saturday night. Saturday night was a
birthday party in an upscale neighborhood in a town with money. When I
was in 8th grade, boy-girl parties were a staid affair. This one was a
rocking house party, complete with a DJ, you could hear the music
three blocks off. There were about 50 kids, pretty much the entire
eighth grade. It was an '80's themed party. My son's best friend (deep
sigh-tall, blonde, blue eyed, gorgeous) came as Kurt Cobain, complete
with a vintage Nirvana tee and flannel shirt. I had to point out that
Nirvana was big in the '90's, but no matter, he was a smoking hot Kurt
Cobain.
My wife spent some time and effort on my son's costume. She did his
hair and put tons of gel in it. She let him wear her sports jacket (a
man's jacket from the 80's) and vintage Vuarnet sunglasses. Oh My God.
He looked like John Taylor from Duran Duran. My son was HOT! He even
rolled up the sleeves on the jacket like they did. What was
fascinating to see was the reaction of the girls when he and his mate
arrived at the party. They flocked to the two boys and were touching
them and oohing and aahing over them. It was a fine turn of events.
The boys were eating it up like it was ice cream. When my son's
girlfriend saw him, her reaction was one of stunned amazement. He was
much prettier than she was and she's really cute. The scene was the
same when I arrived back three hours later to collect my kid. He
sauntered up to me like he was a walking-talking boygod (and he is!).
His face was flush and he had a shit-eating grin on his face. He went
over to thank his hostess and I spoke with her parents until his
friend came running up to me. He was wild eyed and hysterically happy.
He was probably hopped up on Mountain Dew, he said 'Hi' and gave me an
enthusiastic hug and then ran off to hug my son before we left. So
that made my night. My son reported that his friend had broken up with
his girlfriend at the party that evening because of all the attention
he was getting from the other girls. No wonder he was so happy! I
asked my son if he danced. He said, yep, every dance with his
girlfriend. I asked him if he got a kiss. 'Yeah' he said emphatically,
'tons of them!'
That's my boy!
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