It's still raining

Some days you think you want to disown your teenagers, and then someone hurts them or you think something bad has happened to them and you realize -- nope, still love them beyond words.

Take this past family vacation when we went to the beach. There were two incidents in which I thought something really bad might have happened to the girls. Those incidents lasted mere seconds to one minute tops, but everything stood still for that brief time. The first time happened at dinner. The four of us were sitting in a restaurant one night, and the girls decided to go get something out of the car. It seemed to be taking them a long time to come back to the table, so Alan went to check on them. Then it seemed forever before he came back in the restaurant, but when I saw him come back in, I saw the panic on his face. We both ran back outside calling their names, scanning the parking lot, and then it registered that maybe they went to the bathroom before coming back to the table. (Girls and bathrooms...geez.) And yes, that's where they were. It took a little while before mine and Alan's heartbeats settled back down.

And then there was the next day at the beach. Bailey and Alan had ventured out to this sandbar or whatever you call those. It was a good distance from the beach, or at least it felt that way when you were making your way out there. The waves you encounter the whole way are HUGE, but that's part of the fun. Anyway, Addison took off to join them while I was wading around near the shoreline. She had made it about half-way when I had glanced away for what seemed like five seconds. And when I looked back, I couldn't see her. Anywhere. I kept looking and waiting for her head to pop up any second after a big wave, but I just couldn't find her. I started yelling her name, started running out to the water and then stopped once more to look around. Somehow, which still baffles me to this day, she had veered WAY left. I can't imagine how she got that far that fast. We laugh about it today and remark about her super-human ability to trek sideways in rough water. But I'll never forget that feeling.

And now Addison has a broken heart, and there's nothing I can do about it but listen and let her work through it in her own way. She's tough though - she'll bounce back. Maybe she'll see some hot seniors today that'll take her mind off things. :-)