The Tweenager

I could not imagine my life without my two wonderful daughters, ages 12 and 8. Although, I will admit there are times they leave me totally speechless. These specific times are the moments I am completely convinced they temporarily lose their minds. It happens more frequently with the “tweenager”. My oldest can go from extreme happiness to total devastation in 2.2 seconds.  What happens in theses 2.2 seconds that makes the child go insane?  I watch her (admittedly a little scared) to see if her head will start spinning or her eyes will turn red and shoot lightning bolts. Thankfully these moments do not last long. And for now, she is reasonable to talk with once her “episode” has ended. It took me a while to learn to walk away during her moments. You cannot reason with the child during one of these “tweenage” episodes.

The latest episode involved a volleyball and sharpies. Yes, you read that right. She wanted me to drop everything I was doing and take her to the store. Apparently it is SO COOL to write and decorate a volleyball with sharpies. When I was young, we actually PLAYED with the volleyball. I may have said something along these lines to her leading to the head spinning, red lightning bolt eyes. Telling a tweenager “no” is like putting yourself in front of a firing squad and hoping for the best. And to think I have several more years of this. When she is done, the other child will be in the midst of her episodes. I have 10 more years of these wonderful “moments”.

So Mom, I wanted to take a moment and say “I’m Sorry!” I am sorry for making you cry every morning before I went to school. I am sorry you were so afraid of my attitude that you softly knocked on my bedroom door, handed me a cup of coffee through the small opening I gave you, and ran and hid until after I left. Those Jr. High and High School years were rough on you. I see that now. Please forgive me?

I have one more thing to ask you Mom; can you please lift the “I hope you have TWO just like you curse”?