Buck's Not a Date

For some reason, Jane and Mrs. Hufflepuff conspired to introduce Buckaroo and Mrs. Hufflepuff's daughter. This past week the two teens met and went on a blind "not a date." I can tell you, for me, the entire event was exhausting. For the weeks leading up to it, Buck was beyond nervous (even though he assured me it wasn't a date) about meeting a new potential friend. He had picked out what he would be wearing for his "not a date" two weeks earlier. He would randomly ask all sorts of random and pointed questions ("what if she is boring?") at odd moments, like when I was walking out of the bathroom.

I tried to stay out of the way, given Buck and I do better when I am not giving him last-minute mothering advice. Instead, Marty and Jane stepped in, telling him how to act when he is on a, "not a date." Jane's 24 year old daughter, taking pity on Buckaroo and Huff Junior, offered to drive them on their outing. This  resulted in updated text messages from Jane (who was getting updates from her daughter) with such lovely missives as, "Buckaroo spent the entire time in the car with his nose in his phone. I already sent him a text and told him if he picked up his phone one more time I would personally beat him." Gotta love Auntie Jane.

As for me, I was perfectly fine with Buckaroo out for the evening. He is 16 after all. Polly was out of town and Marty and I curled up on the couch to spend our Saturday together. Or that was the overall intention until Jane started sending three-way messages to Mrs. Hufflepuff and me. "Huff Junior and Buck have decided to go off on their own and left Jane Junior and her friend to fend for themselves. Both kids are both smiling and getting along." and "What time should we bring them home?" (me: midnight is fine. Mrs Hufflepuff: 10 p.m.).

At that point, Mrs. Hufflepuff bypassed Jane entirely and blew up my phone with her lovely daughter's life story. She (Mrs. H.) admitted she was a helicopter mom and it was "hard" for her to let her 16 year old daughter go out without her. She ended her text with how much she trusts Buckaroo--someone she has only heard about from Jane--and she feels "comfortable" with daughter out with him. That made me smile, because it meant Buckaroo had made a good impression or (hopefully) Mrs. H's text messages would soon come to an end so I could enjoy my quiet evening.

Buckaroo came home around 10:15 p.m. with a big grin on his face. He said he had fun and emphasized "IT WAS NOT A DATE." That's about the most either Marty or I got from him. Fortunately Mrs. Hufflepuff and Jane were able to find out more details, which they shared with me. Huff Junior had a good time. Buckaroo was a gentleman and offered his jacket to his new friend when she got cold.  And at one point he saw a fire truck and ditched her to go look at it, however Huff Junior easily forgave him and considered it a personality quirk.

Today I gently mentioned that if he ever is in a situation in the future where he is with a new friend and sees a fire truck perhaps--and this is just a thought--he could invite the new friend to look at it too. Buckaroo had the good sense to blush and remind me it was no big deal because, "It wasn't a date Mom."