The emotional ups and downs of parenting never fail to surprise me. Our youngest is now an almost fifteen year old, taller than me, with a beauty that is ethereal and a mischievousness that is alternately maddening and delightful. She can whirl through our little home with the viciousness of a tiny but tall tornado causing the bravest of us to want to run and hide. She can also pirouette over to us with a gentle and sincere gesture of love, a hug whose effect seems to last for hours. What a mystery! A child but also a woman, an angel and a sergeant-major, a model and a mimic, a comic and a critic all in the same day. The mood swings of teen-age life are certainly not for the weak; a roller-coaster at the best of times, I cannot wait until she falls in love. Ha! Or should I say lol?!
Don't get me wrong. I am totally, 100% annoyed with the amount of time she spends on that thing I like to call The Box. (a lot of it), the state of her room (appalling), her nutritional intake (next to none), the conformity of her wardrobe (need I say leggings?), and the way that she looks at me at times (dismay and disgust). But this is a girl who texts me from a sleepover to say good night and that she loves me, who amazingly enough, kisses me when I take her to school and who will drop everything to cuddle a baby, pat a dog or hold a door for an older person. She still laughs when the pediatrician magically pulls a quarter out of her ear and loves to make me laugh until I cry. She spends the rest of her free time doing homework, aims for straight A's and always has. She loves her dog passionately and hilariously and wants nothing more than someone to dance with her. She is kind and grumpy and I could not love her more, even with the eye-rolling. She will never see this but here it is Pie....
Don't get me wrong. I am totally, 100% annoyed with the amount of time she spends on that thing I like to call The Box. (a lot of it), the state of her room (appalling), her nutritional intake (next to none), the conformity of her wardrobe (need I say leggings?), and the way that she looks at me at times (dismay and disgust). But this is a girl who texts me from a sleepover to say good night and that she loves me, who amazingly enough, kisses me when I take her to school and who will drop everything to cuddle a baby, pat a dog or hold a door for an older person. She still laughs when the pediatrician magically pulls a quarter out of her ear and loves to make me laugh until I cry. She spends the rest of her free time doing homework, aims for straight A's and always has. She loves her dog passionately and hilariously and wants nothing more than someone to dance with her. She is kind and grumpy and I could not love her more, even with the eye-rolling. She will never see this but here it is Pie....
