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Health & Fitness

Hormones and other crazy stuff

I'm not being sarcastic, or picking on my own child (or myself for that matter) by being stereotypical here. I am just simply stating a sadly unfair fact – hormones make things crazy..

Lily is mad as she opens the door. She is mad at her friend. And I am not sure what he did --  I'm not sure he knows either...

“What’s the big deal, really? I don’t know why your all upset Lil!” he says as the two of them tumble into the minivan with their back packs full of books.

The typical joyful pick up of one of my favorite pre-teen duos seems to be different today.

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Lily climbs into the passenger seat and buckles in -- not saying a word.

It seems to me that our blue eyed, 11 year old friend finds my daughter's exasperation over the mysterious topic at hand both humorous and bewildering.  And Lil is not happy about it.

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She is annoyed.

Unknowingly with each added comment the boy adds salt to my oldest child’s wound… “It’s going to happen. It is not something you can change Lily. You got to just accept it. You cannot do anything about it anyways.  It is going to happen to all of us! Just think if we did not grow up…!”

By this time, Lily does not want to discuss it any further. She is appalled.

Lil has her arms crossed and her face is covered by a rarely seen expression... She is scowling as she hands me the yellow notice from school. She then rolls her eyes and looks like at any moment, she might scream, or throw something at her friend – I have a familiar feeling that I have seen this somewhere before…

She remains silent as I read the notice. Her eyes are steady upon my face and her little lips zipped in a straight line – her jaw muscles twitching.

I look at the notice; it reads something about a movie they are to be showing to the 5th grade students regarding …

 Puberty.

I feel a laugh starting to creep up on me --but I know better. If I laugh – I might find myself on the side of the road next to Lil’s little school friend here.

So, I decide to pretend to cough and cover my smile with my hand.

I eyeball my oldest.  Again, whose silent stewing is as rare as seeing a kangaroo hopping around a back yard in New England…

She takes after her parents…Very little leaves Lily speechless.

I decide against teasing her -- as our little friend in the back seat seems to be doing his best to make her smile with not so much success…

I’m a bit surprised by both the kiddos reactions.  I start to ask why she is so offended by this upcoming event…

Lily interrupts me, responds with a deep breath and raises her hands up into the air. She says, “Mom.. at school? Really Mom?  AND, on top of it my teacher thinks it is a GOOD idea! She said something about how weird it would be for us to grow up and have the same bodies as we did when we were babies.. It’s just – weird Mom.”

Despite the fact that Lily and I sat together at least a year ago now and read through the American Girl book – about the “care and keeping of you” etc. We have had casual discussions about mood changes, deodorant, hair care and shaving.. She was not ready... Like a "Toys R Us" kid -- she did not want to talk about... "Growing up."

In an attempt to rationalize a situation that is becoming somewhat irrational – at least in his perspective -- The poor friend leans forward in his seat and nudges Lily in the arm --- like her own brother would do…

His face is now looking a bit concerned – And I don’t think he was necessarily concerned about the well being of his friend --  but, more so that maybe her reaction to all this is cause for him to be concerned as well.

--And as I watch this interaction between the two old friends, I realize that what the poor fella does not understand (and most likely won’t until he is married with kiddos of his own..)  --is that this is just the beginning of irrational reactions from females.

 I’m not being sarcastic, or picking on my own child (or myself for that matter) by being stereotypical here. I am just simply stating a sadly unfair fact – hormones make things crazy..

Just mentioning that they have made a movie about it all is enough to ruin ones day --especially the day of one happily ignorant 11 year old girl.

Anyways, we finally arrive at the boy’s house to drop him off. He politely says goodbye to my younger two monkeys who sit wide eyed and buckled into their car seats  behind him– as they too feel a strange storm brewing from the alpha female of their crew.

As he gets out of the car and almost breaks his back as he throws his one thousand pound school bag over his shoulder and it just about knocks off his balance.. He stops and asks my daughter to roll down her window.

This is the typical routine to dropping off our little friend. When Lily rolls down her window he steps up to it and our little friend starts telling us about his cats, or what cookies his grandmother makes him on some afternoons, or what activity his Mom would be taking him to later… He likes to add these things to the conversation as we drop him off at home… He and Lily have been friends for many years.. We enjoy his stories.. But today, things changed a bit.

Lily, who is slightly less annoyed – but not by much – hesitates and then decides to reluctantly roll down the window. She gives him the same look I give my husband before he is about to say something that may get him into trouble (again, I stifle a giggle with my cough) and he wisely decides not to address Lily.

Our friend, looks me in the eye, smiling.  It is the same smile he gave me, after he defended Lily on the soccer field in Kindergarten.. Standing up for his friend, he says, “It would be weird. You know, being stuck in little bodies and having big heads.”

They both laugh. Everyone laughs.. Then Lily purposely almost closes the window on her friend.. And they laugh some more.. Everything returned to normal – at least for now.

A sigh of relief….

I usually say that “normal” is boring -- But not today...

Today “normal” is good.

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