Trespassing

Respect the child. Be not too much his parent. Trespass not on his solitude.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

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I wish my parents had abided (aboded? abeed?) by the saying above. Well, actually they didn't trespass too much on my solitude. They did NOT, however, respect my need to slam doors when I was a teenager. They showed their disrespect for my door slamming by putting strips of foam tape on the door frame to my bedroom.*

There is little in this world as unsatisfying as slamming your door and hearing silence. Actually, there is lot as unsatisfying as that - you just don't realize that when you're 13. Or whatever. Shut up.





* True story. They did that on my door and Erik's door. It was effective for them, but not for Erik and me. I guess they privileged their own needs for no door slamming over our needs for door slamming. Whatever. I'm over it. I hardly ever think about it any more. In fact, I thought the other day about putting foam tape on the grocery store dumpster for the grocery store behind our house. I thought that it might work. Then I realized that a dumpster lid probably slams with more impact that when I slammed my door. Especially after my parents put the foam tape on the door frame.