Message from God

It really pays to listen to those, you know. Beth went out with her idiot friend yesterday. I know little about the friend, other than, from my observations, she's pretty much allowed to run wild. Her mom spends as much time partying as the daughter, leaving her Nana to handle the teen-watching. But Nana works full-time and I think the teen watches herself way too much.

Anyway, as Beth was leaving yesterday, I broke the news to her that she needed to be home by 9:00 PM. I don't know why. I just had that feeling...that message from God, that told me to have her come in early. Our town hosts a "festival" for lack of a better word on this weekend every year. In addition to the local freaks, we have lots of imported freaks in town this weekend. Someone gets shot every year, and I didn't want it to be Beth. She grumbled under her breath a little and I'm sure there was some eye rolling behind my back but she verbally agreed. (Not that she had the choice to disagree because I would have just made her stay home all together.)

About 7:00, the texting started. "Can I please spend the night with idiot friend? We're going to stay in at her house. Her mom's ordering pizza. We won't go anywhere." Rather than argue, I responded to every text with "Home by 9:00." She finally gave up and was home by 8:40. She wasn't overly friendly with me but wasn't outright bitchy either.

Today about noon she announced that idiot friend was missing. She and the other idiot had not been seen or heard from since they dropped Beth off last night. Both of their phones were going straight to voicemail. Neither was returning calls. Idiot friend's mom had called Beth several times starting at 8:00 this morning to see if she'd heard from her. She got her daughter's phone record and called all the numbers from the last few days. No one claimed to know anything. The 2nd idiot had told her mom that she was spending the night with her father out of town. They called the dad and he hadn't seen or heard from them.

All afternoon, I worried about and prayed for those girls and their families. I could imagine how I would feel if Beth had been missing, too. I'm so glad I listened to that little voice telling me to have her come home early. Beth would not have been the one who said, "Hey, let's take off for the night." But she would have been the one to follow the crowd and do what they were doing. But for the grace of God, I would have been in those parents' shoes.

The girls did surface late this afternoon. I don't have details yet but I know they are both back home. They aren't telling where they were. They are still claiming (even to Beth) to have been with Idiot2's dad in the next town, even though they know their moms called him.

Where they were is any one's guess at this point. I do know this experience has changed Beth's sleepover pattern for the rest of her school days. I will talk to the mother of any girl she wants to stay with. I will have the assurance of the mom that they will be home by curfew and be checked on frequently. I hope the moms ask the same from me. Two years ago, we had a group of teens in Beth's school that slipped out in the middle of the night, tried to outrun the police, and two of kids died in the resulting crash. I don't want that to be Beth. I don't want to be their parents. Yes, she's almost 18 and needs to start making some decisions for herself. However, she's shown me time and time again that she doesn't make logical choices. I'll do my best to protect her from herself as long as I can. I do hope the idiot friend is, at least, grounded for a bit. It will be a nice break for me.