Young Love.....

Things around my house changed dramatically this week. My daughter, whom I could count on to be in bed by 1000   okay 1100, has been coming in at 100 in the morning. My DVR is loaded with the shows we watched together on any given night of the week - Glee, The Event, Sixteen and Pregnant, World of Jenks and ((gasp)) even the Buried Life go unwatched.
It is funny how you push for somehting, and the when it happens - SHOCK!
I have always encouraged her to, "get out of the house" - "go out and do something" - "stay out late" - "be a teenager" but secretly I have loved those evenings cuddled on the couch in a blanket, laughing together about something funny on television, discussing the whoa's of teen pregnancy - insert life lesson - and just hanging out with my first born daughter, who has also become my friend.
Last night, after watching GLEE by myself (Gwenyth Paltrow gave all of us 40ish year olds hope we could still be a rock star) I realized - as I reached for a big handful of my lonely food (BBQ chips) - I realized things are as they should be. She should be out hanging with friends, learning how to navigate the world of relationships and dating, and becoming a strong young woman. What I also realized was that the life lessons she has experienced while under our roof are nearing an end, and the lessons she is to learn now will be experienced autonomously - on her own - and she may decide to include me in some of those experiences.

She is in the throws of young love.....a burdgeoning relationship......a new identity as a "girlfriend"....... and now I know why parents cry at weddings. While you feel excited for your child - that someone loves them and thinks they are as great as you do - there is an inexplicable feeling of loss. Not the deathly kind of loss, but almost like there is something missing

I am thankful for the 18 years I have had with such a special and unique girl that I have had the priviledge of calling my daughter, and I am  looking forward what the next several years will bring...

~~~Dawn