Let's Talk About......Us

I love watching Alex sleep. My middle child. The one who is the most, well, challenging to keep up with and raise. The reason why I had to know all the numbers to the school, the Principals' names, the guidance counselor's names, where the local police station was, etc. She's never been bad exactly - not in the classic sense of most parents' nightmares of drugs, sex, breaking the law and so forth. Alex is just Alex. She tends to challenge authority; tends to be moody; tends to question things; tends to be most like me.

So she came home last night from college to visit while hubby and toddler are away. We had dinner then watched Will Smith's "The Pursuit of Happyness." She slept with me last night for the first time in a long time. And when I watch her sleep, she's still that tiny princess we brought home one February afternoon. She's still that tiny little blond kid who was afraid of her own shadow. I was her best friend when she was little; she lived for my attention and my approval. Once, when she was about 3 or 4, she plopped down on my lap and said, "let's talk." I said, "about what?" She said, "Let's talk about.......us!" "We" were her favorite subject.

Life moved on; she's a beautiful 19 years old now. Her life is going in a completely different direction than mine did at 19 - and that's a good thing. But I love to watch her sleep because she transforms again into that tiny little girl who once adored her mommy.

Wistful Fatima