Responsible Adult

I had a bit of an epiphany last night.  I am finally becoming a responsible adult.  Possibly.

I mean, I have been responsible for myself, I have been responsible with my work, and in some circumstances, I have been responsible towards my friends, but it came to me last night that my responsibility levels have gone up to the level of assisting looking after children.  Which is a huge step.

It reminds me of a Charlie Brown cartoon I once read - or maybe it was on one of the television episodes, because it seems to be something that would have gone longer than eight frames.  He was talking to Lucy, in her shrink role, and saying how childhood seems to be about sitting in the back seat, knowing that the adults up front will take care of you.  And something along the lines of when the responsibility of being up the front, looking after those in the back, and the whole changeover thing.  It was something like that last night.

Started off with younger child saying something ultra stupid, and me saying to the Boss that we will have to remember that for his 21st.  And the realisation that was something my parents would have said, and an automatic eek at that.

Then, the children were doing stuff at school in the evening - younger was going to disco, older was having an awards ceremony night for soccer.  Mistress had asked Sir and I who wanted to go along with her to various child things over the next couple of weeks, and with Sir working on those days, I volunteered for what I needed to do.

So yes, going with older child to his ceremony, with Mistress, I had the first real sense of being a 'parental presence' as I am going to label it.  Not a parent per se, but someone to assist as and when required.  I haven't been at a school awards thing since I was at school, so to be thrust into the role (quite willingly, of course), was a bit interesting.  Especially when I am getting into the situation when the kids are already at the ages they are.

Bits of the awards were okay, bits were boring, and the overall experience was kinda sorta strange for me.  But not in necessarily a bad way.  Then the awards were running overtime, and Mistress said she had to go pick younger child up from disco in another part of the school, and older child wanted to go - I would have stayed there with him if he didn't want to go, another blast of 'responsible adultness' - so we wandered over to disco area.

I was never one of the kids to attend school discos, but I did at least know they existed.  And again, it was an interesting experience to wander through the pile of children, and bring 50c out of my pocket for a jelly cup, trying to track down younger child.

Mistress asked whether I had enjoyed the evening when we got back to the car, and I said to her that some parts had been good, other parts had been boring.  But overall, interesting experience.

And then, because it was so late, and we had been running late to get back to school and had missed dinner, we did a Maccas run.  Another of those moments, like Charlie Brown above, when I realised I have switched from being looked after to having to look after others, in the back seat.  I mean, supporting Mistress and Sir, and in previous relationships, it is different, everyone is an adult (apparently, as I think back to one ex in particular), and you can communicate what is happening, but with children around, it is a bit different.  You just look after them, and don't explain most of what you are doing.  Mistress had fast food for breakfast and lunch as well yesterday, so it is going to be at least a week before she has any more of it.

Interesting night.

And then, this morning, Sir and Mistress and I had a bit of a deep and meaningful, subsonic like, so the kids couldn't hear.  We brushed on finances, and what the job situation is like, and house maintenance - how responsible adult is it to talk of fixing the roof and removing tiles and sanding the jarrah floorboards underneath?  Hehehe.

Oh, and Sir is going to teach me to drive apparently.  Which, if he gets a job which is fly in, fly out, and out of town for weeks, will make me even more helpful to Mistress.  I was a bit antsy about it, until that aspect of things was pointed out.

And apparently I have lost weight - at least Sir thinks so, Mistress and I are a bit more non plussed by that idea.  Was funny, Mistress was making pancakes for lunch, and I put maple syrup on them, was about to put butter on as well, when she put on the Mistress Voice and said no.  And then poked me in the ribs, and then smiled at me.

Oh, and also, Sir and Mistress said that it may be best if I stayed here, here meaning in the household.  Before I got here, there was the possibility of me staying here short term and then moving out to a rental apartment or something, which I was very understanding about.  They said this morning they envisage me staying here, to help out as much as I can.  Which gave me a brief moment of squee before we went back into further adult talk.

Everything is going as perfectly as it can be.  Only need a job to complete the puzzle - at least, at this point in time, that is all the extra I think I need...