**Names have been changed for the sake of the innocent, blah blah blah**
I can only assume that this will be the first of many stories of this nature. Some of them good. Some of them bad. And some of them ugly. I am often in denial of how close we are to the teenage years so moments like this always leave me a little palpitaty (is that a word, it’s a word now), kind of like when you have an almost accident while driving. Here goes….
Yesterday in car line, Blondie’s Math/Science teacher was calling out names. It was, for the first time since April, not as hot as the deepest depths of mega Hell so I had the windows down. As I pulled up she lowered the megaphone thingy and said to me, “I just love your daughter. She is such a sweet, amazing girl.” My chest swelled with pride, what parent doesn’t like hearing that? Especially this year when school and Blondie aren’t clicking. She is struggling a little. Classes are getting harder. Hormones are different. And she has little to no connection to her home room teacher. To be clear, there is nothing wrong with my daughter. And there is nothing wrong with her teacher. But they haven’t meshed well. This is the first time ever for her that she hasn’t made that connection and it is showing. She is less excited about school. Her grades in the subjects she has with her are slipping, okay she has B’s so I am not really worried, and she isn’t as creative at home. Anyone that knows my daughter knows that she is rarely without paper and pen. Not so much lately. I have struggled a lot while watching this, I don’t like seeing her light dimmed, but I truly believe in not interfering unless totally necessary. My kids need to learn to adjust to all situations. They are not always going to work with people who are their best friends, that is just reality. Suck it up my precious little snowflakes. But this teacher yesterday is one of her FAVORITE teachers in the whole school and I knew this would just be the sprinkles on the cupcake for her to hear what she said.
So I waited for my kiddos to get in the van and as we pulled away, I said, “Guess what? *Ms. Schmarlos* said you are an amazing little girl and she adores you!” I waited for the squeals and the “REALLY??”…..nothing. I looked over at her and she looks like she is going to burst, this is the most excited I have seen this kid in 2 months. Before I can say another thing, she blurts out “I told *Jimmy* that I liked him and he said he likes me too!!”
WHA!?!?!?!?!?!?!
“I’m sorry, what now?”
“At lunch we were playing Truth or Dare and *Susie* dared me to go up and tell him the truth, that I liked him. So I did and he said he liked me too.”
Now Blondie has been crushing on this boy for a while, in the way a 8 or 9-year-old would. She knows she likes him but not really. Boys are still gross. This development is huge in her world. I don’t even know what to do. We haven’t even had any sort of talk about boys. We just got around to ordering the American Girl book on hygiene for the love of pete. I may be a little behind here.
“Wait. Does he like you? Or does he like like you?”
“He like likes me.”
“Okay. So happened then?”
“We went over to the monkey bars and talked for the rest of recess.”
“What did you talk about?” This is where I hold my breath because if she says anything about boyfriend/girlfriend, I may die right there at that stop light.
“Star Wars and Lord of The Rings.”
“Okay. Good. You have been dying to tell me this all day, haven’t you?”
” Yes. I thought about even asking if I could call you, I was so excited.”
Okay guys. I think we are in the clear for a bit longer. For one thing, I was the first person she wanted to tell. She still wants to talk to me!! Second, they talked about flipping Star Wars and LOTR. The same stuff they have been talking about for the year and a half they have known each other. Not lovey dovey stuff. But debating the logistics of traveling across Middle Earth. And exhale… for now.
