Teens, Goats and Barry Manilow?

There are many ways to embarrass your teenage daughter. One is to wear serviceable-but-incredibly-ugly "goat pants" when her friends are over. I got these gems at a yard sale for fifty cents - just needed a few pieces of duct tape to patch the holes in the back, and they're good as new. (Yes, maybe I should have tried to color-match the duct tape, but I already had a roll of black...use your imagination) Warm and goat-proof!! She tells her friends I'm a local vagrant; her real mother is off getting a manicure all day...

Here's another way. Stop at the local Goodwill thrift store with your daughter because you are early for an appointment nearby and have some time to browse. Then, when a Barry Manilow song comes on the radio, start singing along. Sing loudly, enthusiastically, since she knows that Barry Manilow was your teen music idol at her age. If you are truly lucky, another customer (likely the mother of an equally-mortified teen) will start singing along with you and then you can have a conversation about how great those old songs are. (Who knew I could still recall all the words to Weekend in New England?) If your daughter scowls at you, pluck something lacy off the lingerie rack and ask her opinion  - call across the store if she is hiding out in another corner.

Even the goats like 80s music. Recently there was a brief shower - light drizzle, really, and when the sun finally came out the goats peeked out the door, singing, "We made it through the rain - we didn't drown, we didn't melt, we found ourselves protected huddled in the back corner of our shed...Looks like we made it! We could be ready to take a chance again and venture outside...Come play with us, people, you know we can't smile without you!"

Goats, old music, bargain shopping...again I could almost break out in song...These are a few of my favorite things...