Roz Chast interview.How did moving to the suburbs change that? I’m personally very interested in this question.
It was hard. I had to learn how to drive. I did not feel like I fit in — and I still don’t — but over the years I did manage to make a few very dear friends. Not tons. I remember going to a P.T.A. meeting and thinking, I hate this so much. I can’t stand any of these people. There was a field day — you know field day?
Oh, yes.
I had decided, in a masochistic fit, to be one of the parents who helped out, and somebody gave me a giant bag of ice to break up and I didn’t know how to break it up. I was hitting it with a branch! I didn’t know what I was doing and this woman, she took it from me with this, tsk! and she drops the bag of ice on the floor. But she just acted like, You’re an idiot — and I sort of knew I was. And all that stuff with going to the kids’ soccer games — this was a big thing in the town. Again, sometimes, in the masochistic fit you get asked to do things and you’re like, “I’ll do it!” You get asked to bring — not bring a “snack” or “some snacks” — you get asked to bring “snack.”
This, is more about being a parent than moving to the suburbs. It also happens in the city. Still, extremely relatable. It’s hard to have things in common with parents.