Sleepovers

Today Allison Moehrle turned 14. She had a birthday party. Actually all the girls are still in our basement, probably exchanging stories, gossiping and at least 3 of them are talking about boys, leaving the other 4 completely lost. It's very interesting observing sleepovers from an outside perspective. My mother hates them. Absolutely completely totally hates them. When we got out of the car to go play mini golf (I wanted to go home and read some more of the Walking Dead comic that I got in Austin. I like to read it earlier rather than right before bed because I fear that zombies will come chasing after me in my subconscious, disrupting my otherwise peaceful REM cycle), my mother, who was driving all 7 girls in her SUV, got out and said "You are so lucky you aren't me." I asked her why and she said, "Just listen for a couple seconds." I tuned in to all 7 girls talking/screaming/singing at the same time. "That's what the whole car ride was like."


I've developed a new respect for all she has to endure just by being our mother. She never really had much of a problem with my sleepovers since I never really had very many friends. I think the first one I had was when I lived in California. It was my birthday, Molly Lewis, Mya Randle, and Erin Rogers were my guests. My dad came in from Denver. It was an awesome day. It was "mystery" themed, and we followed clues all over Los Alamitos to get to my party at Shaky's Pizza. If Mom hated putting that together, she sure didn't show it. Although, managing 3 girls she knows well is a lot easier than managing 6 girls.

Erin, Molly, Mya & I at Shaky's

I don't remember how many sleepovers I had. I remember I had at least one in high school, the infamous "Princess Party." We were supposed to stay up and watch Disney movies and dress as our favorite princesses, but, in typical 16-year-old-girl fashion, we ended up gossiping all night.

I've blocked out of my mind a lot the past sleepovers I attended. I mean, I can remember bits and pieces, it's just a matter of if I want to.

I remember the very first one I went to, I didn't really sleep over cause I was too young. The girl's name was Olivia and she was a couple years older than me. She was from New Zealand and was the individual responsible for destroying my childhood and telling me about sex. I'm pretty sure her parents invited me without notifying her first because when I came in she said, in that beautiful accent which I coveted, "Oh no, not her!" Such a warm, sweet little girl. In her defense, I was a really annoying child.

Other than that, I remember one sleepover in which the girls locked me in a closet until the hostess' mother came downstairs and made them let me out. After her mom went back up stairs, she told me that she hated me. I didn't really care. All you can eat Doritos! I wasn't complaining. And then one in 5th grade, I'm pretty sure this girl invited me because she felt bad for me or cause her mother made her. Or maybe she and her friends needed some amusement. I don't know. It was awkward because it was with all the popular girls and I was just so not anywhere near that.

Middle school proved to be a little more successful. Sarah Munfakh always held very interesting sleepovers with lots of crafts or fun games. We watched LOTR at one. I don't really remember much about 6th grade other than Brynnie farting in her sleep (but she did that at every sleepover, a most endearing quality that we very much missed when she switched schools in 7th grade). I remember the summer before 7th grade when I saw Avril Lavigne's video for Complicated and thought I'd discovered something truly unique that I could call mine. However, when we all went to Sarah's sleepover I quickly learned that all the other girls had made this discovery too, and they had also heard her song "sk8er boi" and had her CD.

The middle school sleepovers were never without drama. Someone always got into a fight with someone. The worst was when you went to a sleepover with someone already mad at you about something. Made for a very awkward game of sardines at Anna's house...

Also funny is that Anna's parents would constantly have to remind me to be quiet. It's funny because to this day, 8 years later, they still have to. You'd think I would've gotten the point by now, but apparently not.

Even if I was locked in a closet, or forced to listen to the popular girls talk about themselves, fighting with someone, or having Anna's parent's shush me, sleepovers were probably one of my very favorite things about adolescence. I mean yes, they included a great deal of irreversible emotional damage, but I still loved them. When we're all supposed to be going to sleep, because Anna's parents or whoever have shushed us for the thousandth time, someone would always start giggling for no apparent reason, and that would make everyone else laugh. A game of truth or dare almost always involved mooning and more often than not ended in tears. Someone always had big fluffy slippers shaped like some kind of animal (I had ducks that quacked when you pressed their wings). For me there was always this big question of whether or not I should bring Tigre (stuffed tiger I've slept with since infancy). I didn't want people to think it was stupid, but then again they might think it was cute. I did decide to bring him to college because yes, I am 20 years old, and no, I still cannot sleep without him. Well, I suppose I can, just not well.

My sister got a "zhu zhu pet" hamster thing that comes with this hamster ball, and also a lunch box. My step dad said, "You can put the zhu zhu in you lunch box and take it to school!" I said, "Please don't do that. People will laugh at you."

She just looked at me and said in all seriousness, "You think I care?"

I'm so proud that she has that attitude at such a young age. Being a teenager, while it's often the most treacherous time in a person's life, will be a breeze for Allison. She's so lucky.