My youngest daughter turned 14 on Thursday. I don't know where the time has gone. She is grown into a beautiful young lady. There is not a hint of child left in her. It is bittersweet.
She has really matured a lot this year. There have been a lot of changes. It has been almost a year since she quit gymnastics and she has certainly struggled to find something to fill the void that it left. Gymnastics was such a huge part of her life for so long that it wasn't an easy transition.
She did marching band, which she hated (but liked a LITTLE). She ran track this year. Her first and last track meet was the Wednesday before school closed due to the pandemic. It was a beautiful day in March and we watched her in her track uniform, running with the long pole in her hands and propelling herself into the air. I thought about how brave she was. To try something new, to put herself out there.
She is not my child that likes change. She doesn't like uncertainty. But she did it. She is the kind of person, that even when things are hard - she marches on. She appears stoic on the outside, but she is actually very sensitive. She loves the world and other people but she mostly likes being alone. She is content being by herself with a book or a show.
She is wickedly smart. Always has a witty comeback and is has an amazing, sarcastic sense of humor. She loves skincare. She has a whole skincare routine and is always asking me if there are chores she can to earn money for whatever serum she has her eye on. She does have beautiful skin.
She loves all things vintage. She adores music from the 50s-90s. She loves antique shops and things that are unique, things that have history. She just redid her room and it is a wonderful mix of vintage furniture and bright and cheerful accessories. A huge departure from her middle school room. Middle school is chaotic- she was ready to move on from that time.
Every morning she wakes up at 6:30 am. She does yoga, she meditates and then she comes down and has a cup of peppermint tea. The past few weeks she has been doing a creative writing masterclass. She is a very old soul. I said to her a few months ago, "Oh to be young!" and she replied with, "I wish I felt young!"
She is not like other kids her age. She doesn't have Tik Tok, she doesn't care very much for going out, she watches Twin Peaks and listens to Doris Day. But in some ways she is very much like a typical teenage girl. She likes clothes, and wants to feel smart and pretty, and has lots of questions about the world.
She is excited and nervous about starting high school. She is especially nervous about not starting high school at all. She is excited to get a job. She is planning to apply at Chikfila within the next week. She is hoping her sister can get her an "in." She'll be driving next year. It really does take my breath away.
When she was a little girl, I always joked that I couldn't sit down, because the moment that I did, she would be in my lap. She was my snuggle-bug. She would climb my like a jungle gym and rest her blonde, wispy, curly hair on my chest. I carried that child on my hip until she was in the third grade and her teacher told me it was weird. hahaha.
She went through a stage in middle school where she hated everything, including me. But my girl has come back to me. We are close. We spend our days together and just hang out. Even now, if I'm sitting down on the couch alone, she will come and sit right next to me. There could be 4 open seats but she is right there. She hugs me and laugh together. She loves to cook with me. If I'm working too much she'll say, "Can you just take a break and hang out with me?" I love that she still wants to be around us and hang out. I hope it stays that way.
These 14 years have gone by so fast. If there is anything I would want her to know, it's that she is a gift to our family. She has taught me so many things. How to be patient, how to have fun. She is so dear to me. I love that child to the moon and all the way back home.
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