My cell phone rings.
“Hello Daughter.”
“Hi Dad, we’re having practice today at 3pm”
“Ugh I thought with school being canceled you wouldn’t have practice. I guess I could take a late lunch and come and pick you and Sally up and take you to practice.”
“No dad. That’s OK. Sally’s sister Betty is going to pick us up and take us and you can pick us up at 5:30.”
“OK, that will work great, see you then.”
Call ends..
Wait a flipping minute! Betty is only a high school Junior and my daughter is only in eighth grade, do you know what this means! This means…. (all sorts of things begin to flood my mind: evil toothless bad guys, thugs, malcontents, slime balls and the worst, teenaged boys.
How could I be so careless? I will have to drive to the school and make sure they made it safely; wait there until they are done with practice and drive them home myself.
Wait, I remember my first ride in my cousins car when he was 16 and I was 14. It was awesome, we were free, we could do whatever we wanted, we could go ANYWHERE! The possibilities were endless. Where would we go? What would we do? We went to get ice cream and pick his sister up from her practice. We made the right choices and had a blast being free, if only for an hour!
When did it happen? How did my little girl turn into a teenager? I know this is the official first step in beginning to slowly (very very slowly) let her go a little at a time, to be free for an hour and then two. She is a terrific young person and I trust her. But I think will always worry.
My son just turned 13. He went to his best friend’s birthday party the other day and it was only afterward that I learned there were girls there. Ug. All I could picture was a raucous game of Spin the Bottle or Seven Minutes in Heaven. I’m so not ready for this.
This is the scariest post I’ve ever read. OK, that’s a bit of an exageration, but my oldest daughter is 8. I have issues and fears of days like this.
I know everything will probably be alright when she’s this age, but I’m a guy that remembers being a teenager and still wonders how I got to be in my late 30′s.
When I brought her home for the hospital, I noticed right away, there was no manual. Ugg! I wish there was a manual. I like reading them.
Best of luck!
OhCaptain’s last blog post..Been a while
It definitely happens quickly, and right under your nose too.
A little off topic but….A few weekends ago we had a movie marathon into the late evening. My 8 year old son fell asleep, and rather than wake him up I opted to carry him to his bedroom. Ooof, I had clearly not done this in a while. I almost had to do the fireman’s carry. He’s gotten so big.
Where has the time gone!
So it happens that fast? *sigh*
hopping along…
CableGirl’s last blog post..FlashBack Friday – The Kiss
I can so relate to this… I sent my first born, my precious daughter four hours away from home to college this fall. My son, my baby, is a high school freshman. It happened over night.
blog hopping – etcetera
Tara R.’s last blog post..Harbingers of spring
Yikes!! I remember what that was like, riding around with my cousin. She took corners fast and blasted Paula Abdul. Good times.
Blog hoppin’
Margarita Miss
Miss’s last blog post..Leap of Faith #1: Trust
Wow, that makes me think of how soon my boys will be all grown up. Time had been flying so fast… my baby is turning one next month… I just had him! The year has just flown by.
MamaWise’s last blog post..I don’t know how people do it!