Little Moments

Yesterday my daughter wasn't feeling great and opted to come home after school rather than staying for homecoming festivities. It's rare for us to be in the car alone immediately after school, we usually have our carpool. It was such a treat. I had forgotten how those few minutes after school are so informative. She chatted about her classes and teachers, a play she tried out for but for which she did not get a part.

As luck would have it, I had been on her Facebook page earlier in the day. I have a Facebook account because I wanted to be able to monitor what my children were doing on their pages. I requested they all 'friend' me but no one has accepted my request. My youngest son, who as far as I can tell just plays a farm game on Facebook, has his page set to automatically load so I can go through his account to my daughter's account. The previous weekend there had been a mixer she was unable to attend because of a dance rehearsal. I looked at the pictures some of her friends had posted and was apalled. It's a group that she has not been hanging out with much this past year. They were dressed like 'those cows you don't buy because you are definitely getting the milk for free'. It's cold here and they were in little gym shorts and t shirts. When I saw the pictures my first thought that this was a dress up day for spirit week, but when I asked her she told me they were going to the Friday night mixer. Without any prompting to me she said they looked trashy and think it's cool to dress like sluts. I can tell she is transitioning between groups of friends and I know it's hard .

We stopped at Trader Joes for a flat bread pizza to have for dinner and as we were checking out she asked if she could get a chocolate bar which of course I agreed to as long as I got a taste. As we sat in the car she unwrapped the candy and was so excited because it was was wrapped with gold foil on the inside -- she told me she just loves when candy bars are wrapped in foil. She slowly unwrapped the bar took a piece and rewrapped. I don't know why I was so touched by such a little act but it almost made me cry. Maybe it was the truly uncensored moment, or seeing her as a little girl again, or seeing a glimpse into the woman she will become.