Dear Mom & Dad,
I want to apologize for everything.
Your eldest grandson is now thirteen years old and has
become a total butt. This development is probably no surprise to you, but we
were caught completely off guard. He used to be so nice and now he is a moody, stubborn
turd.
I mean, we still love him and all. It’s just that we don’t
want to live with him half the time anymore. Come to think of it, this is
probably why they invented boarding schools on the east coast, huh?
Anyway, like I said, this probably isn’t a shock to you,
since you had me. Hence my apology. Looking back on it all, I remember knowing
everything there was to ever know. If only I knew half as much today as I
thought I knew then!
I was always right. I was convinced of everything. I had
opinions that could not be argued. I didn’t want to hear it. I was not nice. I
was probably mean to my sisters but thought they were really the ones being
mean to me.
I had no goals or plans or skills of any kind. I had nothing
to do all day but still complained about doing anything at all. My judgement
was crap and my ability to plan was even worse.
My comprehension of cause and effect was nonexistent. I was
impulsive and dumb and unable to come up with a good reason for anything I did,
other than, “Whatever. I don’t want to talk about it.”
I understand now that this all stems from the prefrontal
cortex of the brain. The prefrontal cortex – which, as any reputable brain
surgeon will tell you, is probably located directly north of the post-rearward cortex
– is the part of the brain in charge of not being a giant butt face.
Apparently, no one’s works at thirteen.
The nice folks at the middle school sat us down at the
beginning of the school year and told us all about the lame-o prefrontal cortices
of thirteen-year-olds and what to look forward to. I’m not sure I totally
believed their hype at the time, but now I’m thinking they might have held back
some of the more disturbing information just to keep us from trying to
preemptively sell our kid.
Too late for that now. Anyway, I just wanted to say sorry
for my teenage years. Sorry for being such a turd, and thanks a million for never
kicking me out of the house.
To return the favor, I guess we will continue to provide
room and board to your intolerable butt of a grandson.
Love you both,
-Smidge
Copyright © 2018 Marc Schmatjen
Yes, yes, you were. But we got to thirteen before you did, so we were mean to you too.....
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