“Hey!! Don’t judge me!”

By Karen Gordon

So many things have happened since my last column both locally and globally. The holidays were pretty cool, except that our adult children and a few siblings were unable to come home for Christmas. I guess that’s one of the perks of them growing up – they start their own families and traditions. It still sucks though.

Especially because I remember 30 some years ago when I thought I was grown up enough to not come home for the holidays. I was in college. I was an adult. I was living on my own or so I thought and I could do what I wanted. I had everything figured out, except not so much.

But I digress. It’s 2018 and it’s time for all things to be made new.  SayWhatScooter is growing up so quickly and I don’t think I’m quite ready for it. As of this writing, he is 10 days away from his 9th birthday. Geez, he’s practically an adult.

“Hey!! Don’t judge me!”

I’ve been hearing this a lot lately from LeScoot as he is increasingly exposed to forces beyond our control in these streets. He has a tablet and somehow has created his own YouTube channel and an Instagram account. What the HECK?! At this point, my preference is an abacus and hieroglyphics… smoke signals… So, delete.

Because he’s the only child in the house, the Bossman and I try to have him around as many kids his age as possible, although they may be doing some unconventional things. For example, The Scoot and his 9 year old cousin Jamil started selling boiled peanuts at the Augusta Market late last year. They’ve got their own logo, started making their own money and they are expanding their product line to include slime and who knows what else? Getting up at 7:00 a.m. on Saturday cuts pretty deep into their leisure time and Scooter is sure to ask about his work break every 10 minutes, but their bottom line is growing and they get to spend time together… before they get on each other’s nerves.

Personally, I figure that if he makes enough money doing his own thing then he’ll forget how much I owe him from the swear jar… no need to get into that right now. Needless to say, “musician language” is frowned upon in our house.

LeScoot still wants to be a preacher and a superhero when he grows up and I’m hoping that he adds artist to that list as well, but I think he has a future in accounting. As I write this, I’m reminded that the jazz concert I just bought tickets to is on Valentine’s Day. And it’s in Atlanta. So, of course, my reaction is, “What the h*ll?!” And, of course, Scoot walks in…“Hey Mom, you owe me $26.00.”

Karen Gordon is a singer, songwriter and the founder of Garden City Jazz. She works with the City of Augusta to present the Candlelight Jazz Concert Series each year and has partnered with RCBOE to develop interactive courses such as Taking Notes: Jazz & The American Story and Jazz4Kids.