The Talks

I always enjoy just having one daughter to myself at home, especially when she's chatty! We've had some interesting conversations over baking, jigsaw puzzles, listening to a new CD, and just riding in the van somewhere. Lately those talks have been with my older daughter, and the nature of our talks has gotten more challenging, at least for mom!

I have always told my girls that they can ask me or their dad anything they want. As they've gotten older, I've maintained that by not overreacting when they actually do catch me off guard with a question. And believe me, I've gotten some doozies! I've had to take many deep breaths! I've even had to say, "God, you take this one!" and somehow, I found the words. PTL!

These talks have brought us closer together in a whole new way, as she becomes more and more of her own person and less and less of mine. Soon I will have to release her into the world and I won't get to tell her all I know. She won't want to listen then! At least not for awhile anyway. I love that she has her mind made up about so many concepts, so that I can help her with those goals. We practice "what to do if..." situations in order to prepare her for certain peer pressures and temptations. We look up Scripture on many subjects, and I have to say, without the Word of God, I really wouldn't know what to tell her about a lot of things I don't even understand. I've encouraged her to pray for certain people at school that concern her, and to invite them to youth. She is developing a heart for people that she didn't know she had.

Ahh, yes. My baby is growing up. And I don't want to fight it anymore. I want to sit front row and cheer her on because I'm so very excited to see where she's going to go next! I'm excited for her future and to see her realize her goals and accomplish things in life. And as long as she lets me hug her a bit longer now and then, I think I can handle letting her go a little at a time these next few years.

Today's question first thing this morning (before my coffee) was, "mom, what is incest?" Oh, dear. So I patted her dear daddy and said, "this one's for you, love." And of course, he aced it. Whew.