It seems to me that since my daughter is now fourteen years old, I should be learning from her. Not the content stuff, like how to use some computer application; more importantly, I should be learning from her about life. She's had a lot of it. I think that this is why I started this blog. I was spending a lot of my time revisiting my own childhood and past trying to make sense of what life is all about. Mostly I was dredging up those memories by trying to understand my daughter. As I have remarked many times here, one thing I learned as I started this blog is that Grace is not me. Therefore she has a different way of handling life than I do (or did in the past). It stands to reason that sometimes she makes better choices than I would have.
I have been learning to listen to her. She is able to express herself well if given the space to do so. She can express her feelings, desires, fears, motivations, and joys. She's pretty much a grown person at this point, and needs only experience of life to continue to shape her. It's not like she doesn't know most of the essentials of life, like if you eat too much junk food you will regret it. And if you procrastinate, you will not do your best work in the end. And saving money is many times better than spending it as soon as you get it. I could go on. The point is, she's pretty much like a grown person in that now she makes decisions each day on her own and learns from the results what to do the next time.
I hereby instigate "Teachable Tuesday" in which I reflect and articulate what I learned from the fantastic teenager who is becoming a woman of the future before my very eyes. The first installment will be next Tuesday, May 13th. This might be a bit of a doozy, since I am going in for a medical procedure that day. But it should also provide me with some nice fodder for the first edition.
Stay Tuned!
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