i met my new 6th grade guys small group last night. six guys — and i have a great 18 year-old co-leader (which is essential due to my travel schedule).
in short: it was complete pandamonium. one didn’t talk much; but the other five talked non-stop.
a couple funny things…
three of the guys happen to live within a mile of me (which is great, since our church is actually about 10 miles away, and draws from all of san diego county). this means they also go to school with my daughter, who is in the same grade. when this came out, one of the guys who doesn’t go to that school asked my daughter’s classmates, “dude, is she hot?” fortunately, the conversation quickly shifted, and no answer was given. i wasn’t sure which answer i was hoping for — do i go postal if they start talking about how hot my daughter is, or do i go postal if they start talking about how not-hot my daughter is!?!?!
i was having the guys share a variety of info about themselves, including birthdates. they, of course, were all born in 1993 or 1994 (which made me giggle each time one of them mentioned their birth year). then my co-leader (the other “adult”) shared his birthdate, which included the year 1987. this time i laughed out loud. i graduated from high school in 1981! when i said my birthdate — may 24, 1963 — the kid next to me said, “dude! you’re older than my DAD!” to which another kid said, “and my mom!” and they all went around the room, identifying who had parents younger than me.
that’s classic…I love it! You know I always thought you were younger…you old man!!!
“do i go postal if they start talking about how hot my daughter is, or do i go postal if they start talking about how not-hot my daughter is!?!?!”
It doesn’t matter what their opinion is. The most important thing, is that you go postal.
Dude I was born in 1980. :O)
That’s a classic Catch-22. Funny how middle school boys can get us thinking like that. :)
Yeah..this makes me laugh sometimes too…when it is not FREAKING ME OUT!
But I think part of that is because I am getting to the point (32), when if I was married right out of high school it is possible that I could be some of their parents…yet I barely seem old enough to myself to be married or have children.
Oh man! I’m not that old. ;) But I remember the first time I started feeing old. I walked into Starbucks and saw the 10th Anniversary edition of Alanis Morrsette’s ‘Jagged Little Pill’…
10 years!!! You’ve got to be kidding!
I’m only 21 and that makes me feel old. I was eating dinner at Chico State last night and realized how far behind me High School was (all the freshmen). Yeppers, it’s wierd alright!
I’m with Clint. When my wife and I realized we were old enough to be parents of the kids in our group…let’s just say it was a sobering moment.
Well I thinking sharing with your 6th grade guys is really important, for example not only sharing that you are father, but a person who loves to hunt, maybe talk about all of the shot guns you have , vactions hunting animals, it always good for guys to have a good amount of fear of a “Father of a daughter”. Just a thought. Life is just starting to be fun for you Dad !
And if you don’t own a shotgun, you probably ought to go buy one, so you can accidentally not be finished cleaning it when the guys start to show up.