A Mother's Balancing Act

A Mother's Angst

Ah, the teen years...shopping, movies, going steady, staying up late chatting with your girlfriends, cruising Main Street, going to the "Big Game" and "The Dance"...

OK, who am I kidding? Yes, there's time for socializing, but my kids' lives are filling me with angst. It's more like this:

• Homework
• Studying for the "Big Test"
• Working on the group project
• Staying up late texting about who's responsible for what on the group project
• Cruising Wal-Mart late at night, panicked, searching for that last minute item for the "Big Project"
• Doing the dance between needing sleep and needing to study more for the "Big Test" in AP Chemistry

Is it just me, or has high school gotten out of hand? One of our daughters is involved in sports, and the other is not, but both are in honors classes. And both are outrageously busy. When does a kid have time to be a kid? A teen have time to be a teen? Yes, we want them to be prepared for college. Yes, we want them to do well on college entrance exams and hopefully get good scholarships to good schools. Yes, we want them to be well-rounded.

I pray for guidance every day. As I sit here mulling it over, sipping my coffee, It just seems to me that there isn't enough time for them to be kids. Is it just me? They're such good kids. They're really not even complaining, but their teen years are flying by so fast without them even realizing it. Perhaps it's just me, and I'm just getting old...perhaps that's it.

Perhaps.

Balanced Babe (AKA Molly Wendland)

Letter to Mario Chalmers, Darrell Arthur

Dear Mario Chalmers and Darrell Arthur,

Disappointment. Disgust. Betrayal. 

All words that describe how I -- and others -- feel about your actions this week at the NBA rookie transition program designed to teach the freshman players how to behave now that you've made it into the big time. So, there you are, learning how not to behave, and you do exactly the opposite of what they tell you by having women and pot in your room during your first two days in the program. Stellar move, boys.

You who came from the nation's Number 1 college basketball program in the country? You who have been given every advantage possible? You who were coached by arguably the number 1 coach in the game.

So, I ask you this. What do you have to say for yourselves? What defense can you possibly offer for breaking the rules, and how do you think your former Kansas basketball coach, Bill Self, feels about your actions?

What about the line that went all the way around the building at the Corinth Shopping Center last week, with people hoping to get your autograph or maybe even just catch a glimpse of you? And what of the tens of thousands of kids who look(ed) up to you? What about them?

Way to go, guys. What a great start to your professional careers. As far as I'm concerned, the measly $20k they fined you was a drop in the bucket to the money that is now lining your pockets (right next to the bags of pot, apparently...). I could not be any more disappointed or disenchanted with two young men than I am with you right now. You have smeared the good name of our heralded basketball program, and you have dishonored your coach who has done nothing but boost you up from day one.

Enjoy the bench, boys. And enjoy Rookie Transition Camp for Dummies 'cuz' that's what they're bound to call it by the time you go through the second time around. Do some soul searching before you go through that, and plan to take the time to pick up the phone and apologize to the coach whose good name you've besmirched. Try to restore some class to your own names while you're at it.

Shame on you. Shame on you both.

Your Disillusioned (Former) Fan,

Balanced Babe