Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Your input is needed.....

I'm having an indecisive day. The new guy is just making his presence known, but I need to have a name for him. I've posted some ideas in the poll above, but if you have more suggestions, please email them to me at blogget_jones@yahoo.com.

I've stopped calling and texting Fella, and I've gotten spontaneous phone calls. Very "How are you?", "How was your weekend?", "How's your son?" Get off the fence, jackass. However, maybe he's read the blog? His promises to call are now, "I'll talk to you later." Dangit. I was all set to discuss the not calling problem, and he manages to fix it on his own. Phfft.

South Carolina has me hooked on a musician I didn't know about before the conference. Keb Mo. Dang, he's good. Somewhat James Taylor-ish, but more bluesy. Love it. Look it up! I'm hooked on a sweet song called "I'll Be Your Water." Wow. And "Shave Yo' Legs" cracks me up. Oh and, guess how South Carolina spent his evening? Smoking a dozen turkeys for a charity fundraiser a local women's group has for the holidays. Damn 1800 miles.

Okay, time to switch gears for a moment. I need some perspective on a situation with my son. This happened while I was out of town. My mom called one evening to tell me that my dear man-child had gotten into a fight. I mean, a knock-down-drag-out punchfest. He came away from it with a cut under one eye and a shiner.

I spoke with him. How did this happen? Where? When?

"It was after school, Mom. Off-campus. I couldn't help it. This kid has been a real ass, picking on my friend Cal. The last couple of days he decided to pick on me, too. He hit me today, but I told him I wouldn't fight on school grounds."

"So you met after school? Do you know how dangerous this is?"

"Yeah. This guy is little, Mom. Well, littler than me. But a real pain in the ass, threatening us all the time." (Should be noted here that my son is 6'2" and his friend Cal is taller.)

"What if he had a gun? Or knife? Or friends waiting for you?"

"But he didn't, Mom. It's okay. I couldn't NOT fight, Mom. I couldn't back down once he hit me."

Okay, so this argument apparently makes sense to the testosterone-dominated people in my life. The kid who started this didn't come to school for a couple of days, but my son doesn't know if it's because he was hurt or scared. He didn't stick around to see what damage he'd done after the fight. The kid hasn't bugged him or Cal again, and there have been no repercussions from school or other parents.

It still scares the living crap out of me, though, with all the "what if's".... Am I overreacting?

8 comments:

Kimberly Vanderhorst said...

I think you should be proud...you might not agree with the need to fight, or the safety of the situation, but at least he applied some brain power to the situation. I mean, he actually thought it through enough not to fight on school grounds which could've lead to serious trouble. You're right though...it could've been so much worse. Maybe if you're understanding about this incident and don't completely flip out on him, he'll be more likely to talk to you about future problems before they get out of hand? I don't know...

D-HOR said...

Oh God where's Sgt? He'd know what to say. I'm useless but I think kimberly was right about him being smart enough to take it off school grounds, that was SOMETHING.

I'm sorry I'm not any help, but I'm here :)

Krissie said...

Yeah, what Kimberly said. And boys will be boys.
I do understand your fears though. What is now one fight might become a regular thing. I hope he really had a good reason for this.

Fire Byrd said...

I've no answers, but my youngest with attitude bust his finger two weeks ago fighting his then mate, they were both drunk. And the friend kept telling my son that he'd fucked his mother, which my son took exception to. He warned him to stop and the mate didn't so he got it.
How can i argue with that?
px

Glitterstim said...

Right, ladies -- I'm glad he thought enough to take it away from the school. There's a level of trouble a new kid doesn't need. I have told him that I understand he couldn't back down, once the kid powdered him one at school. A

nd I'm glad he didn't just lose it right then and there. Looks like he was methodical about it, telling the kid, "Okay, you hit me. You wanna continue this, fine...but it won't be here." He could've beat the crap out of him right there, but it would have involved authorities of some sort. He didn't strike first and he gave the kid a chance to back down.

I'm glad he's able to hold his own, too. I just worry about the "what ifs" and this kid showing up with weapons, etc.

I think I've been fairly cool about this. He's not grounded or punished at all. We were able to talk about it. But I'm not telling my ex.... In his eyes, this kind of thing is my fault because moving the kids was bad (to him -- not to them).

Glitterstim said...

And Pixie -- I can't say I blame your young fella either!! No one can talk about somebody's mother like that....

darth sardonic said...

man, as a guy who has thrown some punches (and kicks. and swings of a hockey stick) in some fights, (and once or twice stood there dumbfounded but stolid after the first punch landed on my jaw, which seemed to scare the attacker way more than anything else i could've done) and completely turned tail and hoofed it from others, all i can say is, he felt he needed to, and he did, and that worked out alright so far. sometimes you just feel like ya gotta do this thing, no matter how stupid it seems. hopefully, though, he doesn't make a habit of it.

Glitterstim said...

Thank you, darling Darth! We needed a testosterone viewpoint, I think. I think that's what he's been trying to say -- he just had to do this. No backing down.

So far, no indication that this will be a habit. I suppose I should really worry if he's the one starting it....

Thanks!