the day i became old.

Well, it officially happened last night. I became old and lame.

You see, it was movie night. We put Carly to bed, picked up, did the dishes,  moved the couch right in front of the TV. All the while, there were young people screaming outside. Ok, its Friday night. Its about 9 o'clock. We live in a complex. What can you do? Then it calmed down, and around 10 we were ready to start the movie. And about 10:15 is when the insane banging started next door. Whatever was going on outside must have moved inside.

You see our neighbor on that side is a divorced dad with 2 teenage girls that live with him part-time. I see them coming home from school occasionally and they seem like nice-enough girls. But they are teenagers. And I think last night they were having some sort of sleep over. And they must have been playing Wii or Kinect or Dance Dance Revolution or decided to reenact the D-Day invasion, because they were banging and shaking the building so loud.

You see, I actually have a pretty high tolerance in terms of neighbor noise. In our Kville home we could hear the people below us expressing their marital affection from time-to-time. But when we would chase a crawling Carly around in the morning or afternoon (not at night), someone would bang on their ceiling/our floor to tell us to hush up. And we found it totally annoying. Also, our neighbors here on the other side of us, they seem to be a family of overweight people who bring fast-food home for dinner 5 times a week and also love a good game of DDR. Because there is constant banging from that side as well. But its not too loud, and though it can be annoying, it never goes on too late or too consistently or for too long. So we just deal. Because that's what you do in a complex, right? (Oh, how we wanted a house when we moved to Michigan. Stupid money.)

So last night, the banging and shaking coming from the teenagers starts a bit after ten. We watch our movie, and I'm feeling a little tense and a lot annoyed because its SO loud and there is no hint of it stopping. And sorry, just the way it turned out, but that side is the side Carly's room is on. And if they woke her up not only would I be seriously furious, but they would have to listen to her scream through the walls until she fell back asleep. Though, with all the partying they probably wouldn't have heard.

So, the movie is nearing its end. Its after midnight. And the banging is just as loud, if not louder. And holding steady.

For the record: I let this go on for two hours even though I had a sleeping baby.
For the record: It was after midnight.

I got up from the couch, walked to the shared wall and . . .

pounded on it. Three steady not-too-loud-not-too-quiet pounds.

See. I'm officially old and lame.

I think Chris was shocked and kind of embarrassed.

But the banging stopped within a few seconds.

Ok, I feel totally guilty.

I mean I don't want to be that annoying neighbor pounding on the wall. And we have a good relationship with that neighbor. We've always been friendly with one another. Though one time when we first moved in I was hanging our picture wall at 8:50 with every intention of stopping before 9 and he came over around 8:57 to ask if I wouldn't mind stopping. Whoops. But that was so not midnight.

I shouldn't feel bad, right? I mean, I pounded very nicely. Just to get the point across. And we put up with it for a long time.

I'm going to be totally embarrassed next time I see that neighbor. Tomorrow. We always say hi as we head out to our respective churches.

[oldies but goodies]

This morning Chris was doing his hair before heading to school. He told me how he is preferring this old generic "90's gel" as he put it, because the Axe Hair Glue makes his hands all greasy when he touches his hair. "Oh, man, I'm getting old," he says.

"I know what you mean," I reply.