Tender Moments

Man - just when you think that you have everything under control - something crazy happens, beneath your very nose. My mistake was making the assumption that I had it under control. My solution? Keep laughing.

After being excused from class early due to the professor's still-healing cataract surgery, we were able to have a lovely family dinner tonight. The grilled tuna was delicious, but most delightful was the laughing family conversation around the table. I am dreadfully sad to see my two growing up so quickly, especially since this pre-teen and adolescent period can be very fun! After dinner my ten year-old daughter headed upstairs for her semi-daily shower... and I finished dishes and homework with my thirteen year-old son. As he was wrapping up his algebra problems and I was checking email, I realized that we hadn't seen Rebecca since she headed upstairs.

"Rebecca," I yelled, "what are you doing?"

"I'm almost done," she called back from the misty sounding depths of the bathroom.

Millions of unanswered emails beckoned and I lost myself in evites, replies and facebook chatter. Fifteen minutes later, when I was pulled up for air by my son's thankful, "I'm done!" I realized that we still hadn't seen Rebecca, clean and dressed for bed.

Annoyed now, I hollered, "Rebecca, get down here! This instant!" Sheepishly she trudged down the stairs wrapped, sarong-style, in her bath towel, wet hair hanging down her back, glistening eyelashes blinking innocently. "What have you been doing?" I asked.

"Shaving, Mom," she replied, pulling up the towel to reveal a clean shaven ten year-old leg, bruises and scabs smoothly exposed. Shaving is new to Rebecca - and she seems to enjoy it, despite my exhortations that the more you shave the faster it grows. (Am I contributing to the passing on of an urban myth?)

Big brown eyes looked into mine, and I admired the beautiful eyebrows that framed them. What a lovely girl I have, I thought to myself. She is so mature for her age - really, growing up so fast. What am I going to do? This is going by so quickly.

Then Rebecca said to me, "Hey mom, I also shaved the hair off my arms - they are so smooth!"

All I could think was, ARM STUBBLE???! All I could do was laugh.