Hard to Stay Angry with Them

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Last night my middle daughter was several hours late coming home from a pool party at the rec center. She and her friend had been expected sometime around 10 or 10:30 pm, but by midnight we hadn't seen or heard from them. Needless to say, both hubby and I were getting rather angry that they hadn't at least called. He went out to look for them, and he did find them just up the street. As expected, they had a whole story for why they hadn't checked in. When I first sat down to listen, I wanted to stay angry with them and I was waiting my turn to tell them how disappointed I was in them. But as the story unfolded, it became more and more apparent that they'd been on their way home but had to stop to deal with an emergency. A boy they know from school was out drinking last night, as so many teens here are unfortunately wont to do on the weekend. He drank so much that he passed out in a green space near our home, and when they girls came upon him he was unresponsive. They couldn't tell if he was still breathing, and worried he might be dead. So of course they stopped to try and give first aid and to make the call to 911. Then they waited until the paramedics came, which does take some time in a rural setting like ours. Luckily, the paramedics determined the boy was still alive. And they took him to hospital to be treated. The girls were just starting to make their way home when the Wolf found them. Yes, there was still a little bit of time unaccounted for. And yes, it seems convenient that their friend's phone completely ran out of battery power right before they could call home. But I do believe the girls meant to come home on time. And I certainly can't fault them for stopping to help someone in dire need of medical attention. I couldn't stay angry, even though there were probably options they could have explored in order to get home sooner or at least alert us to what was going on. What's really sad, though, is how many of our local young people seriously abuse drugs and alcohol. And how many of our young girls get pregnant before they can even graduate high school. So many of these kids struggle! It's the kind of thing most people associate with the inner city. But honestly, we see far more of it in this tiny rural town than we ever did living in the big city. [Image: Michal Jarmoluk/Pixabay; CC0]