Thoughts on a Quiet Saturday

And why is this Saturday so quiet, you ask? How can that be, when my life is usually overrun by at least one child needing me (or should I say needling me) desperately at all times? Well, one is at a birthday party- again (more about this in a moment.) The others are at the library with their Dad getting some much needed "Daddy" time, or giving me some much needed "Mommy" time, as it were.
So, as I sit back with my Baldacci novel and a grilled cheese sandwich, I tend to get bit philisophical. Let's see where it leads me... The birthday party. Last weekend, Allie, 8 and 1/2 years old and fabulous, attended a party which could only be described as "all Hannah Montana, all the time". Apparently the party thrower (turning 9) is a big fan. Or should I say a BIG FAN. My daughter was lucky enough to give her "the only Hannah Montana poster she didn't have yet." Wow. That's quite a feat. So here's the question: How does one, at the tender age of 9, become such a rabid fan of anything? I've got five of 'em (kids, not rabid fans), and so far, I have yet to see one develop an obsession of this sort with anything (aside from maybe Colton's obsession with boogers, but that's another story).
Do my children not watch enough TV? Am I not buying them the appropriate accessories? We have the Disney Channel- they see Hannah Montana. They see Zach and Cody. They see Fairly Odd Parents (really, that's not much of stretch), and Spongebob, and all the latest in mind-numbing "tween" entertainment. So where have I gone wrong? I hear many of you screaming "nowhere!"- and thanks for that, but this lack of interest in fabulous pop-cultural phenomena- what does it mean?
You see, when you get right down to it, my children aren't WAY into anything. They do alot. They play soccer and take dance classes and are on Lego robotics teams, and even dabble in the arts occasionally. They read alot. But I have yet to see any one of them get so excited about something that they wouldn't give it up if they suddenly had a better offer.
Are they undermotivated, my kids? I wonder sometimes. And if they are, is it my fault? Or more importantly, does it matter? You see, I think they are genetically predisposed to be pretty laid back. Both Casey and are laid back to the point that it could be mistaken for ambivalance (or maybe it is ambivalence). Neither one of us is competitive, or driven to be much more than pretty good at what we do. Don't get me wrong- I don't think we're slackers- we do what's gotta be done, and 80 percent of the time we enjoy ourselves doing it. We are happy. We lead relatively productive lives. It's a good place to be, because generally, our expectations aren't so high that we're disappointed with the results.
It just leads me to wonder, where does it come from, these "passions" that many other parents' children seem to have? I hear it so frequently: "Oh, dance is her passion"- or "Music is her passion" or "Baseball is his passion, he takes his ball everywhere". Is the kid really so passionate, or are the parents just projecting their unfulfilled dreams onto their kids? The only thing my kids seem to be passionate about is protecting their Easter candy. If I took my daughter to the Hannah Montana concert, and dressed her just like all the little disciples, or encouraged her to be "passionate" about something, would I be doing her a great service? Would she be more popular? Have an easier time relating to her peers? Deep questions, I know. Deep thoughts for a quiet Saturday.

Today is the first day of the rest of my life. And I've decided to let you all in on it. Since that'll be fun, and after all, doesn't everyone want to be me?