Wednesday, January 13, 2010

pearls of wisdom

(A. dressed in the "cool"
junior high school fashion, or so I am told!
Converse sneakers and striped knee socks!)
Do you ever throw little pearls of wisdom in the direction of your kids? I tossed some little lustrous ideas towards my A. in the car on the way home last night from the library.
It's her 14th birthday.
How can that be even possible that 14 years have passed? When she was born, it was 2 1/2 days of labor, ending with an emergency c-sec., to meet a sweet almost 10 pound baby...Oh, and a horrible ice storm.
Every year since then there has been a snow storm or ice storm either on the day of or the day before or after her birthday. Not this year. Nope. For the first time -as they would say on Mary Poppins- the winds are changing. I am not really talking about a weather report. It is more symbolic than that.
This year she is having even more fun with school and her group of friends and all their activities than ever before. But I feel the winds are changing. She is no longer a little kid, she is a smart young woman.
So here is how the pearls of wisdom conversation went in the car last night:
__________________________________
Mom: A., you will find that after 14, the time will start to go by faster now. I don't know why it does, but it does. Before you know it you will be 16 and then 18!
A.: And then 20 and then 50?????!!
Mom: No, it seems to slow down for a while in your twenties and thirties....But then yeah, it does speed up again. But I mean the time between 14 and 18 seems to really speed right by.
A.: **silence**
Mom: You are not a little kid anymore. You are a young woman. It is the best time in your life because you get to have more responsibilities than you do as little kid but you don't HAVE TO have the crappy responsibilities of being an adult.
my boy N., age 9 1/2 -annoyed voice comes from the back seat of the car: Yes she IS still a little kid!!!
Mom: No she isn't. Not anymore.
my boy N.: **silence**
Mom: All I'm telling you is make sure to have lots of fun in these next few years while you are 14, 15, 16, and 17. You'll find you spend the whole rest of your adult life wishing you could be those ages again!
A.: But I still have to do Algebra homework.
____________________________________
As a Mom, all you can do is throw those pearls in their general direction. What they do with them is their part.
**sigh**
Stay tuned for some birthday photos to come.

2 comments:

Mary Isabella and Kiley too! said...

I so love this post. As the mother of 4 I had 3 teenagersat one time. I can remember those days...m..

Betty said...

tell Anna that it speeds up after 40. Where did the last ten years go? I barely remember being 14.
And Happy Birthday to Anna too!