What IS it with teenagers?
Some days I feel as though I am the only person in this household actually walking on the ground; everyone else appears to be travelling alongside on a trampoline on wheels! Up one minute, down the next, laughing turning to bickering in a flash. One moment I am having a conversation with a (reasonably) civilised human and the next I'm fending off a termagant whom I have just mortally insulted...and as for the poor Noddy car- well I'm surprised the passenger doors are still attached with all the slams they've received lately!
If Life is a washing machine I've been stuck in the 'spin and drain' cycle for some years now!
I really do feel that in the Instruction Manual for Life with which we are all (not) issued in the Maternity Ward, there ought to be instructions on activating a personal 'seatbelt sign' like they have on aeroplanes, just so I get a split second warning to duck before any particular daughter goes stratospheric....y'know?
Nuclear fallout is dangerous when taken regularly in large doses and close proximity.
So much for the teenage years, with us they appear to be lasting well into the twenties!
I thought that when the girls were little they were lovable and I couldn't possibly be happier with their company. Then when they were toddlers and the whole house was in constant turmoil with their antics, I thought that was the best time. Each began school and I thought that watching them learn was the most interesting and revelatory (?) experience, despite very rocky patches through the secondary years.
When Eldest went to College it was scary and hilarious but she came home with laundry and stories and disappeared again with half the pantry and that was great, whereas Middlest seems to bring most of the Drama Department home on a regular basis so that I have had to learn all about Ravening Hordes and The Warfare of Genghis Khan...which training has stood me in good stead for Youngest and her school friends.
I have recently entered the peculiar phase of getting to know boyfriends, which, let me tell you, is a whole new minefield of guesswork and twisted ankles (metaphorically speaking- big word!!) and brilliant fun in a 'how much can I get away with?' way.
At each stage, despite tantrums and stern talks and occasional despair, I thought THIS is the best time! But finally I am coming to realise that every time can be the best time, even the evenings I want to knock their heads together or when Middlest comes home with yet another tattoo...
If I take nothing away from the last twenty four years except the experience of Motherhood, that's ok, it still makes me one of the lucky ones.
3 comments:
I had two boys, now thankfully 28 and 30, not girls, but the teenage years were equally demanding. Mind you I had to welcome and deal with boyfriends for one of them! The girlfriend issue was trickier, he seemed to prefer to keep them to himself.
Oh yes, the boyfriends, the tattoos ("you can tell your grandmothers, don't think I'm going to do it") the body piercings, the "I can't bear to be in the same room as her" isn't it all good fun!
The quilt I am working on now is a homage to teenage girls. It's a 5x6 foot picture of a seemingly impenetrable forest with sunlight on the other side. That is, if you make it through alive. . . . .
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