I'm a thirty-something lesbian who lives in L.A. I majored in English lit and did the Peace Corps after college. Sometimes I drive my electric car to work, but most days I just ride my bike. Did I mention we used cloth diapers for all three kids?
I've got "left-wing" written all over me.
Yet lately something funny has been happening. I can't tell if some secret inner Republican buried deep inside me is starting to creep out or if I'm just turning into my father.
Zadie is now attending an alternative charter school that has a lot of unusual rules. For example, the kids can't wear any clothing or backpacks with commercial characters. Screen time is not allowed during the school week. The food you feed your children should be nutritious and preferably organic.
It just so happens that our family pretty much practices all of those principles anyway (we don't even own a television), but for some reason when I was sitting in the auditorium with all of the other parents a few nights before school started, I felt like rising up against the nanny state. I realized my stream of consciousness sort of resembled a Sarah Palin rant I'd heard before.
I've also been a little heavy-handed with a few situations at work lately, both involving a young employee who irritates me a little bit. Why does he irritate me? Oh, just because I don't think he shows proper deference to authority. Who am I?! I keep on telling myself that it's really not my job to go around trying to instill respect for authority into people, especially given that I don't even supervise this person! It reminds me of Gus from Lonesome Dove not tolerating rude behavior (my father suffers from this same affliction).
And I don't even need to tell you how many times I'm reminded of my father when I'm dealing with an unruly or disrespectful child of mine!
Lastly, one night when we were visiting Tori's family over Thanksgiving, I came back from seeing a friend and her family was playing a new, rather raunchy card game. I sat at the table and hung out for half an hour or so before I went to bed. Or at least that's what I thought I was doing. Later multiple in-laws told me they thought I seemed really uncomfortable and offended by the inappropriateness of the topics being discussed. I wasn't offended at all by the game and I actually thought it was really amusing. But, since apparently I've become my father, apparently I now exude some kind of fatherly/motherly disapproval and have serious facial expressions even when I'm having fun!
Don't get me wrong, there is no one in the world I love or admire more than my father. But he's the father and I'm the kid. This must be part of the aging process. I guess I've heard people joke about turning into their parents before, but I feel like this is kind of different. Maybe because we're not the same gender.
And because I'm a thirty-something lesbian who lives in L.A., majored in English lit and did the Peace Corps. My dad, on the other hand, is a successful businessman who grew up in East Texas in the 1950s and served with special forces in Vietnam. Kind of different.
You'd be off the mark if you tried to judge either one of us by the obvious demographics. You don't know what kind of authoritarian, traditional values streak lurks within this particular thirty-something L.A. lesbian. And you'd be pretty surprised about how thoughtful and open-minded a guy who grew up in segregated East Texas and served in the military can be.
I love you, Dad!
