This is becoming one of the hardest things I have ever done

[Buckeye_Democrat]

66. My parents arrived at the police station and...

... said, "Send him to jail!" when I was caught being an idiot with my teenage friends, vandalizing property.

Their parents were pissed at them too, but my parents made the black cop in the room raise his eyebrows like he was thinking, "Daaaamn."

Then the property owner was finally tracked down and he was much more lenient, thankfully, saying that he didn't want to ruin our lives. We all apologized profusely except for the one friend who had pretty much instigated the whole idiotic affair during a sleepover.

My parents eventually simmered down, but they kept asking for days how anyone as smart as me could've ever done such a thing.

An older brother who had performed worse in school was given more leeway by them for those sorts of things. as if he was just too dumb to do better.

Edit: My mother drove the "dumb" brother to a military recruiting station very soon after he graduated from a joint-vocational school, though, to get him out of the house ASAP. He had to repeat basic training, but he stuck with it and retired from the Air Force. He's now the most financially secure among all of my siblings.