She's 12, almost 13. We are getting ready for her to become a Bat Mitzvah, a daughter of the commandments, a Jewish adult. (Just over three weeks! Oy VEY!)
She is, in so many ways, already an adult, already a woman. She is so wonderfully mature. This is the child who, when her teacher had them choose the book they wanted to read for class, chose To Kill a Mockingbird. And couldn't stop talking about what an awesome book it was, how it altered her.
She's passionate about the environment. She's been known to take down a friend who questioned the right of one of the people she loves to marry the person that they love. And don't even think about dissing one of her special-needs friends--much less her brother--or treating them as 'less than.'
It's not all sweetness and light. This is also the child who has told me about a kid she knows who is cutting, another who's dabbling in drugs--mentioned it casually, mentioned it with full understanding, shocked me into silence. I'm not ready. I'm not ready for her to be ready.
So there's all that. And yet. And yet.
Yesterday, she and her friend J went out into the backyard and had a wedding ceremony. In which they each married one their stuffed animals--a goat and a panda. N officiated. There were written-out vows. There was laughing. There was dancing.
Same child. Same woman.
I love almost 13. I don't want it to end. Not yet. Let her stay right here, just a little longer. Just like this. My girl.
4 comments:
Beautiful.
Oof. Like a kick in the gut (heart?) but so beautiful at the same time. What a girl-woman.
Wow. So much going on at that age. And man, does 12 ever seem so young to handle all that wisdom.
My daughter is moving into this stage. Sometimes, I find myself watching her while I'm listening and wondering at how she is changing.
Thanks so much for sharing.
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