Teenagers and Bowling

My teen aged son and seven of his friends went bowling tonight. They graduated from 8th grade and this is how they chose to celebrate, a group of them got together at Tonawanda Lanes and "bowled." I made the mistake of thinking they were there to Bowl. I mean, we were at a bowling alley, they had the shoes, they chose the balls. Pretty sure that means someone's going to bowl. Alas, I was wrong. They did roll the balls down the lanes and some managed to knock a few pins down. I tried giving advice. Where does my expertise come from? College. Yes, I took a course in bowling. I needed a PhysEd credit and I certainly didn't want to get physical so I took bowling. So I know technique, I know how to hold the ball, I learned how to adjust for spin and all that. I tried. Good God, I tried. It was about half way through the first game that I realized they didn't really want to learn to bowl. They wanted to take selfies with each other and socialize. They wanted to feel like big kids, I mean they're technically in high school now, right? So, they did just that. They laughed, they joked, they shared food, they danced around and in between they bowled. I enjoyed every minute of it, all the silliness, all the noise, the giggles and guffaws. It was awesome to see kids out being kids. I'm not so old I don't remember what it was like to be a kid. I'm glad I decided to be the chaperon. And I'm now the cool mom. That's quite an honor. Glad I had the opportunity to glimpse into the life of teens and remember.