The Innocence of Youth

It’s very interesting watching Guy and Kitty grow into adolescence. Kitty has her first real boyfriend and is now involved in the romance of the century (!) and sneaks little kisses from him when she thinks we’re not looking, whilst Guy has met and dumped his first girlfriend and is now more interested in his mates who have scooters. That’s ma boy! It's cheaper!

Never having been independent enough to go into town before this year, they now disappear at regular intervals with their ‘allowance’ (as Kitty calls her pocket money) and of course, Guy, with his scooter, can pop into town whenever he wants, although there are strict conditions about when he has to be home.

Despite their independence, it’s still nice that as a family we sit down together every night for dinner and a few nights ago, gathered in front of the telly to watch the film ‘The Social Network’.

We all use Facebook and although I knew most of the story, it was interesting to watch it with Guy and Kitty. Kitty wanted to know all the ins and outs of the subterfuge involved in the lawsuit with the Winklevoss twins, whilst Guy was desperately trying to look at Mark Zuckerberg’s coding.

But it’s when we all start ‘fighting’ on the carpet in front of the fire that the memories come flooding back. When they were much smaller, Guy and Kitty would ambush me (a la Kato in Inspector Clouseau) by jumping on my back and trying to smother me, shouting, ‘pile on, pile on’. Occasionally, we’d even get Shadow to join in.

The other night Guy ambushed me. In the old days, I’d simply throw him off but these days he’s quite a bit heavier and stronger and trying to throw him over my shoulder just doesn’t work any more. So I was in this ‘death grip’ the other night, quite unable to free myself but there’s always an alternative way of dealing with assailants – I just tickled him and within seconds his grip on me had loosened and he was lying on his back, completely disabled through laughter.

I love that they’re growing up (fast), but occasionally, just occasionally, the innocence of youth shines through.