Three Teenage Girls

Enchantress

Three Teenage Girls

There's quite a bit of estrogen in my house, currently. I may have mentioned the high-tension being felt, due to all of the female craziness we have in my home this summer. I love all of my girls (female teenage doggy included). As of next weekend, we will be down one.

The eldest returns to school and moves into the dorms for the first time. She'll not only be a new resident of her prestigious college but a resident assistant to boot. Her excitement is tangible and I can tell she's also a bit nervous. The creative juices have begun to flow. She's been designing her wall board and what will be displayed on all the resident doors. I'm hopeful she'll acclimate quickly to her new surroundings and become a trusted confidant to those in her building. I'm also eager for her to do some growing up. Staying at my friend's last year proved to be more of a hindrance in her development than a help, in my opinion. True enough, she was on her own, but she always had her to rely on. I will always be grateful to she and her husband (cause it saved us a crap-ton of money) but I'm ready for her to be less of a "high-school" grown up and more of a "college" grown up.

Right now, she and her sister struggle with dominance and their poor mother is caught in the crossfire. I saw teasers of this, earlier in the year, when the eldest would come to visit. The younger sister has established herself as the only child in the house. Then, big sis shows up and everything changes. Young sis isn't happy and rebels, giving big sis all kinds of grief. The story continued this summer but in a much bigger way. The squabbles are petty at best. Most of the time, I can't even pinpoint how they start in the first place. When I can, I'm amazed at the ridiculousness of it all. Then, the grudges that are held thereafter. There's definitely a need for space on all fronts (mine included).

The puppy, who continues to work through her puppy-training classes, is dealing with dominance issues as well. My eldest Dane (who converts to 81.9 dog years and has well surpassed her life expectancy) is completely over it. The puppy will become visibly and vocally jealous when we pay "big sister" some attention. She'll even push herself in between us just to put the attention back on herself! I feel like I need a break from home life and I just may get a few hours (if I'm lucky) on Friday. How sad when you need a break from your family...or is it.

I think there are definite times when you need to gain your own space. That's certainly what my husband achieved when he went on his trip down south a couple of weekends ago. He was able to communicate with us, but he basically just spent the time communing with nature and himself. He came back rejuvenated and refreshed (imagine!). It's been a while since I've just had a "get away" for me. (I just checked and it was 2011 when I had my one and only "by myself" trip).

 My car is in good shape (so no rental needed this time) and I've stashed a bit of money away. It's a bit harder for me to get away since I'm the evening parent after school (once school starts) and the "rehearsal ride". To take off for a weekend would require a bit of sacrifice from hubby. We should have a chat and see where it leads. 

Speaking of school, I cannot wait! Most years I'm eager for them to get back to it but this year has been especially trying. My youngest teenager's willfulness and stubbornness is enough to make anyone crazy but, as her mother, I pray every day that I don't choke her out. Ugh! We had a talk and she confessed that she felt that I patronize her by always repeating what I want her to do. Delving a bit deeper, I let her know that she is notorious for "forgetting" to do things and constantly "drops the ball" on the tasks we tell her to get done. If things were taken care of when we asked, then there would be no need to repeat the request. It's as simple as being responsible for the things we tell her to do, when we tell her to do them. She agreed and things have improved (for now).  Having one teen stomping her way into her teen years and one nearly on her wait out and into her twenties - I wish someone had warned me.