Teenagers...

Recently, my uncle Albert sent us an email with an attachment of all sorts of great photos from long ago. One of them was a photo of my two uncles, Albert and Gerrit (my mom's brothers), and my oma and opa (their parents). This picture is taken behind their house, in Holland. (Also in the photo is my aunt, Marleen, who is Albert's wife.) I liked this photo because it reminds me of when I was little. We always played in Opa and Oma's backyard. There was a shed on the right and my Opa always hung up a swing in the doorway. We loved it as kids. He had a HUGE vegetable garden behind the shed and my brother and I planted sunflower seeds there once. Awesome memories...

One other memory I do have is a different one. See the window in the picture? That was my uncle Gerrit's room. My Opa and Oma used is as a guest room later on when my family and I visited from Canada. When I was 16, I came to Holland to work for the summer. I stayed for 2 months. Imagine a 16 year old, who was sent to another country, no parents, freedom at her hands. Trouble...

If my grandparents were alive now, they would certainly have a heart attack if they knew what I had been up to. That window was my freedom as a 16 year old. Looking back on my "adventure" I can't believe I did it. As a parent now, I would have a few heart attacks myself if I knew what my daughter did.

Here's the story...
I was 16 and stayed at my Opa and Oma's house one of the nights during that summer. I had made a bunch of friends, not with the best reputation. Mostly boys. They wanted to go to this "disco" (club) that night but I knew Opa and Oma would never let me go. So, always full of ideas, I went to bed that night around 9:00. I waited till Opa and Oma went to bed at 10:00, till they were in a deep sleep at 11:00. I got up, I rolled up a bunch of clothes and put them in my bed to look like I was sleeping in my bed. Then I tried to open the window and climbed up. SMACK! A flower pot (full of earth) fell to the floor. Earth scattered everywhere. Quickly I slipped into bed, wondering if Opa and Oma had heard the sound. After a few minutes I figured it was safe and I tried the window once again. It didn't open quite large enough for me to fit through so I went to plan B. Out the backdoor (the one in the photo). I had to pass Opa and Oma's room on the way so I threw my bag out the window with my "party clothes" in it. Then I slowly crept past Opa and Oma's room, floor creaking as I shuffled along. I unlocked the backdoor (it was noisy!) and crept outside. All of a sudden I was flooded with light! Like a helicopter shining down on me with its beam of light - a fugitive! No, just the floodlight that had a sensor on it. When it sensed movement, it turned on. I ran as fast as I could to the backgate and waited for the light to go off. Eventually it did and then I got dressed in the backyard. I ran down to the elementary school next door and my friend J was waiting there for me. We walked to the club (everything in Holland is within walking distance) and had a good time dancing! At some point during the night, my friend J decided that he wasn't going to walk me home anymore and I was so scared I'd have to walk home by myself, in the dark, in a not exactly safe neighbourhood on a Saturday night. I had to scramble for a friend to walk me home which I found eventually so when the club closed at 5:00 AM I walked home with him and he dropped me off by the backyard gate. I changed back into my pjs, and ran to the backdoor which was just as I had left it. The floodlight came on again, but I quickly locked the backdoor and safely made it to my room. I fell asleep and got woken up by my friend Marieke around 10:00 or so. I got up and got ready. Went to the kitchen and talked with Opa and Oma while making breakfast. Turns out: Opa had gotten up right after 5:00 because he saw the floodlight on. Oh man! I was so lucky, I thought. Thank God he didn't see me. I got away with it. Thankfully Opa and Oma NEVER found out. I can't imagine if they had.

Now, a parent myself, I cannot imagine if things had gone differently. What if something had happened to me at the club. What if I hadn't found someone to walk me home? What if Opa had checked on me and had found I wasn't there? Can you imagine? I can't believe I did that to them. Anytime I think of my daughter being a teenager I think of the egocentric 16 year old I was and know what that was like. It was one of the few wild things I did as a teenager but I am so grateful that things turned out OK. I don't even want to consider what would have happened if things had gone differently...
...Oma did ask about the flowerpot later and I just kind of brushed it off...I bought her a few begonias over the next few years to try to make up for it...although I don't think it does.