Slamming Doors

Thanksgiving is almost upon us. And you all know what that means. Well, for some it means lots of cooking, cleaning, and preparing for the onslaught of friends and family. For me it means lots of cooking, cleaning, and preparing for the return of my college student. One kid may not seem like an “onslaught”, but I’m quite sure it will have the feel of one.

Fangette will, no doubt, barge through the door and shatter the peace and quiet that her father, the long-suffering Fang, and I have cultivated in her absence. There will be a lot more noise around here. That’s for sure. I, for one, can’t wait.

It’s amazing how much I miss hearing doors slam shut — Fang and I have a tendency to open and close them quietly. Fangette, on the other hand, has always seemed to operate under the opinion that a door is not truly closed unless it has been slammed nearly off of its hinges. She throws open doors to announce her presence (think “Kramer” of Seinfeld fame).

There have been times when other people have been present for Fangette’s comings and goings. I can’t tell you how many times I was asked by one of them if my daughter was angry. “Angry?”, I would ask quizzically. “Why would she be angry?” Most normal people, befuddled by Fangette’s method of entering and exiting the premises, would look at me like I was crazy (or deaf) and follow up with something along the lines of “Well, she’s slamming all the doors!” I would just shrug and roll my eyes — my way of saying, “Yeah. I know. It’s just her way.”

And it is just that — “her way”. I tried to instill in her the proper methods of entrance and egress when she was a small child. Really, I did. These lessons just never took hold. I just gave up. We all have our quirks, I told myself. The “door thing” would be hers.

I thought that she might change her ways when she went to college. I wondered if others would notice it, find it annoying, and shame her into opening and closing doors in a more subtle fashion. She was still flying in and out of doors when we visited her last month.

Perhaps no one has noticed. It’s entirely possible that if they have noticed they’ve been too polite (or too shocked) to mention it. Or, maybe they just plain don’t care.

I don’t know. What I do know is that next week she’ll be back home to slam our doors. And it will be music to my ears.

---

I am sharing this video with this post because I love Jackson Browne, because there is a reference to “slamming doors” in this song, but, really, it’s because I’d like Fangette to “Stay”, you know, just a little bit longer.