So I’m packing for the airport yesterday and my daughter Melanie, minutes from bolting out the door for another rousing day in the life of a junior in high school, comes in holding Geek Charming (by Robin Palmer, author of Cindy Ella).
“Mom, don’t you want to read this on your trip instead of Darling Jim (by hunky Christian Moerk)?” Well naturally. What 44-year-old woman doesn’t want to read Young Adult Fiction on 5 airplanes in the next 10 days?
Now let me say this: I have never, ever and did I mention never, read more than one book at a time. I sometimes eat more than one food at a time off my dinner plate. But never a book. Honestly, the sacrifices and scary things mothers do for their children.
“Now Mel,” I start, clutching my mascara in one hand and Darling Jim in the other, “You know I told you this is kinda, um, dark?”
“Yes; which is precisely why you shouldn’t be taking it on this trip. You need something lighter and Geek Charming is perfect for you right now.
Let me note here — this is the daughter who came home school the day prior gushing, “Mom, you are going to LOVE Geek Charming. Look how much I read today!” Now, while I’m proud of my daughter’s speed reading ability (thank you Grandma Buffer for those useful genes) I had to ask, “Um, soooo, other than reading 326 pages of a novel today in SCHOOL, what else did you do in you know, SCHOOL?”
No I won’t bore you with those actual academic details but I’ll tell you this: I took the bait. And the book. During the grand handover Mel grew serious, “Mom. I gotta warn you. You might laugh out loud at certain times.”
“Cool. Whatever. Stick the Geek in my purse and refill my coffee, will you?”
An hour and a half later I was seated in my cushy emergency row exit seat for which I didn’t have to pay an extra twenty bucks. (Hello US Air? Delta knows Customer Service. You don’t.) I cracked open my shiny paperback and escaped into the familiar world of teenage drama. Five minutes later I yes, laughed out loud and blurted, “She was right!”
So, to the nice gentleman passenger in 25A en route to Atlanta, now you know why I was laughing out loud. My daughter knows me quite well
