Someone recently turned 13 in my home. I guess that becoming a teenager is a big deal but the most important thing that my son noticed was the fact that it opened up a whole new world of film entertainment – the PG-13 movie! Now, if you’re not a parent, you probably don’t pay much attention to PG, PG-13, R, you just stream movies and TV shows or order them on-demand and who cares about the ratings right? Well, not all PG-13 movies are created equally. In fact, if you’ve not paid attention over the years, the PG rating used to be a lot different. Compare the colossal Disney hit “Frozen” – which is rated PG with the 80’s classic “Uncle Buck” starring John Candy which was released in 1989 – also PG. I love the Internet Movie Database or IMDB as the kids call it. Actually, I think it’s just geezers like me that use that app but it’s incredibly helpful for those “who was that guy that was in that one movie with…” questions. Anyway, they have a parent’s guide for every movie that is not only accurate but cleverly written. According to that, there is an extensive amount of profanity in Uncle Buck (and none in Frozen), which is hilarious if you’re 13 and you don’t hear those words every day.
That brings me to the photo here. My mom recently relocated to be closer to my family and she has a habit of writing her appointments and keeping almost a diary of sorts on a calendar that hangs on her wall. One day last week, my kids and I went over to visit and my son immediately noticed the entry on the 23rd and got the giggles. As you can see, she had “BS” scheduled for 9:30. Not long after my son buckled over with laughter, my daughter (who is 11) came over and asked what was so funny. He just pointed at the calendar and said “BS” and she looked at me and said with an inquisitive look, “Bible Study?” which was indeed what the abbreviation stood for. She hasn’t seen PG-13 movies or ridden on a middle school bus or spent any time with my dad who used the more profane version of “BS” in casual conversation to describe everyone from the weather man to our congressman.
I don’t know about you but I seem to deal with a lot of “BS.” I follow the process but the insurance company doesn’t pay a claim and the clinic sends crabby letters, our builder makes a total mess in our front yard last fall and doesn’t prioritize fixing it because we’ve already paid for our house, I get letters from our homeowners association about leaving the fire pit on the driveway overnight but I can see (and smell) a port-a-potty and five huge blue construction dumpsters full of garbage from my driveway. I could go on. Do you ever look at your calendar and see a meeting and then read “BS” between the lines. Maybe we should all schedule time to deal with “BS” (not bible study, also important but not the topic of my blog), would it be easier if we just knew it were coming on Wednesdays at 9:30? Maybe we should just watch more PG movies from the 80’s and laugh more.
building. It’s incredibly expensive to maintain a swimming pool with heat, chemicals, cleaning, etc. – but apparently the only time they want the pool to be used is one hour a day, in the morning, for water aerobics. There is to be no jumping, no toys, no splashing, basically no fun. In past year’s I’ve received warnings because my kids were playing with dive toys, throwing balls and because I was playing “marco polo” with them. Really? The other rule that I found myself breaking several times was walking into a “private” area of the beach and purchasing drinks from a “members only” snack bar. Don’t signs like this actually make you want to see if you can get in? Why would you refuse money from people who are thirsty on the beach? So, that retired people never have to stand in line at the snack bar? We’ve already established that all they’ve got is free time so what’s the big deal?
The view from the suburbs 