Thirteen years of Toms and my parenting teenagers comes to a screeching halt tomorrow, because today is Lucys Almoster Day. Our baby girl was an easy child, who vacillated between insisting I do it myself! and proclaiming that each night that she spent sleeping between us was the best cuddle ever! As a child, she kept to herself a lot. She spent a lot of time creating her doghouse, which was a 20+ room model which she created out of shoeboxes and odds and ends. She combined her first two loves, art and dogs, into the most amazing cardboard mansion. She would go into her room and disappear into herself as she created this masterpiece of her imagination. In her teenage years, I struggled with letting go of this one. There comes a time when you allow your children to stop ASKING you about what theyre going to do, and start TELLING you. Lucys, um, adventurous nature delayed my letting her go for a while. But all that time, her attitude (and her voice) continued to tell me, I do it myself! I guess I should have listened to her, because now Im enjoying watching her flourish, albeit from afar, especially this past year. I can tell that she still retreats into herself. She goes silent, and then she usually emerges having drawn a beautiful picture or scripted a perfectly-worded piece of writing. Lucy is smart and loyal and stubborn and beautiful and really, really funny. Shes the least materialistic person I know. Labels, and things, mean little to her. She is all at once brash and audacious and sensitive. She somehow makes this combination work. Margaret says it best when she calls Lucy unapologetically herself. My friend Tricia considers Lucy a flight risk, as if Saint Louis cant contain her. Tricia is probably right. But I want my baby girl to know that Ill constantly be cheering her on, both in my heart, and with my incessant texts. I know you can do it yourself, Bug, but I will always be here if you need my help or if you want to come home in further pursuit of the best cuddle ever. I dont feel like I need to tell you how much I love you, because you already know. Im so happy that Margaret and Pitter and I get to be with you to celebrate the end of your teens. Bring on the next decade, and make the most of it! I know you will. XXOO
Posted on: Sat, 08 Mar 2014 06:19:56 +0000
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