Will I ever understand?

There are some things that I will never understand. I have resigned myself to that fact. Right up near the top of this list are boys. Teen@ge boys. --I had to avoid that pesky go0gle search.

We just returned home from a fun trip to Bear Lake. We had so much fun playing in the waves, boating, tubing and just sitting around. This was a family trip. To clarify my family a little bit more, I am the oldest of 32 grandkids (is it any different now Grandma?). My sister that is two years younger and I are the old ones of the group. After her it was five years before there were anymore grandkids. Once they started coming though, it just rained and rained babies for quite some time.

Now all of a sudden they are all growing up. A few are married, two just had babies DOUBLING the number of great-grandbabies (mine have been the only two), many of the rest of them are high school/college age and many of them now have boyfriend/girlfriend relationships.

This brings me to the subject of my blog. As we were unpacking our tents I caught a sight out of the corner of my eye that startled me. For a minute I thought it was Bigfoot dressed in a purple shirt. After my initial shock I realized that it was a boyfriend of a cousin. Upon further inspection I realized that he was wearing tighter than tight dark-washed jeans, possibly girl jeans...I know that is "cool" these days. Is it even cool to say "cool" anymore? Sorry, I digress. Back to the story. Above these jeans were his brown boxer shorts ballooning out. He was wearing a thick belt with silver rivets and a tight purple t-shirt that he had to keep pulling down. Then, the reason that I thought he was a member of the Bigfoot family...his hair. He had even length, dark brown, curly hair that came past his chin. On the top of his mop was a black hat so tight that his hair on the bottom was puffing out in every direction.

My aunts riled him. They talked about how when he is thirty he is going to look back and see how he looked and wonder what in the world he was thinking. I laughed at that thought and remember how goofy my husband dressed even when we were dating. I look at my little brother and his love of "vintage" thrift store shirts and ties. I think of every boy/man I have known and EVERY ONE OF THEM has had dressing issues. I wonder why that is? Is it actual marriage that makes boys finally dress like men? Is it having a wife that puts her foot down when it is the year 2004 when her husband comes dressed to go on a date in his striped denim shorts (think the last season of "Saved by the B3ll" or "9o2l0") and his big-man shirt? Or is it plain ol' time that makes them dress the way their mamma's always wanted them to dress? When do they decide that a good ol' GQ cut makes them look like a man? Hmmmmm. I will have to think on this some more.

To illustrate my point I tried to snap a picture of this teen, but it is hard to get a picture that late at night and be sneaky about it. Here is my best attempt.



Lest you think I'm a sexist, I have issues with teenage girls and the way they dress too, but that will be another day.


***Quick note to above commentary. Socks worn with sandals? Give me a break!!!