Puberty

Okay...this is one of those stories that Lilly will kill me for one day.  The good news is that she does not read my blog and NO ONE will tell her about this post because they do NOT want to hear all about her puberty live which she would immediately launch into if told about this post.  I'm raising a very transparent daughter and I am beginning to understand why Erik walked around shell-shocked in the early years of our marriage.  Then he got used to me a little bit AND I began to share less and less of the intimate details of our lives.  Transparency is an acquired taste.

One of our good friends, Lance, told me this story about Lilly after teaching her church class one day.  Apparently, Lilly was not at all in a good mood.  She wasn't her usual bubbly self.  No smiles, just glares.  At some point Lance asked her what was wrong.  Her answer?

"It's puberty, OKAY!"  This was spoken with every ounce of teen angst she could muster.

Lilly is an amazing kid.  She is full of zeal, excitement for life and sometimes has been known to really make people crazy.  She does not pick up subtle nuances...she cannot sense when someone is 'done' playing.  She never tires of playing, witty banter or wrestling.  Sometimes it takes a very firm no for her to understand.  I am usually standing on the sideline hoping this will be the time she begins to understand a nuance and that her feelings are not too injured.  Luckily, she bounces back very quickly and forgives along with forgetting.

Okay...blog time out here.  The nuance thing reminds me of my friend Jon.  Once, when we were in high school, our drama teacher invited us to her home to work on a drama assignment.  There were 3 or 4 girls and Jon.  We arrived a bit on the early side.  She and her family were finishing up supper-KFC.  She politely offered us some.  There was clearly not enough for all any of us.  All of us girls immediately declined...I guess we sensed there wasn't enough or Jon was so cute we did not dare eat in front him.  Either way, Jon said, "YES! I love KFC."  Then he proceeds to chow down on some chicken.  I don't think our teacher got any chicken for her supper.  As we teased him about it later, he confessed he didn't notice how much chicken there was.  He went on to add, "Oh well, it was pretty rude of her to offer it if there wasn't enough to offer."  He remains one of my forever friends.  I'll take a failure to notice over an insincere offering any day. ( ;

Meanwhile, back to the blog post...I am pretty sure that now,  many months after Lance sharing that story with me, we must be on the cusp of puberty.  Lilly often loses her cool with the same intensity that she enjoys life.  It takes time alone in her room to get it back and THEN, she feels very bad.  Puberty is tough all around...but exuberant puberty is going to require some extra knee time for me.  I need to hone my proactive skills and squash back my reactive skills.  Something tells me this round of puberty is going to be me 'paying for my raising' as the saying goes.  I just hope I saved up enough!