So, I know it has been a while, but I am going to skip right over the part where I talk about why I don't post here as much anymore and launch right into the juiciness that has brought me back to whine and vent and share the trials and tribulations of this mom here.

My 7 year old (almost 8) has her first boyfriend.

Yeah. That silence you felt is the same silence emanating from my shock and total loss at how to react. I mean, the part of me that is pre-emptively angsty about not fitting in or feeling the pain of being on the outside for her before she gets there may be slightly relieved at the fact that somehow, in the social structure of her oh-so mature 2nd grade class, she has a place. And when I stop and think about it, there are times I wish I could go back to having a 2nd grade relationship where you like each other, and send cute notes, and wave across the room and it's sweet and innocent. (Except not because I like my wonderful, adult, healthy relationship that has come into my life.) (And, not to mention, when I was in 2nd grade, boys were still yucky.) But the mom in me that wants to protect her from any sort of pain has already imagined the day she comes home and cries to me because this boy decided he also likes her best friend and wants to be her boyfriend for a while, because let's face it. 2nd grade relationships? Last about as long as any sort of freshly baked good when my daughter and boyfriend are both home. The fierce mother lioness in me can already feel the desire to yell at her friend "WHAT KIND OF FRIEND ARE YOU, YOU BOYFRIEND STEALING BITTY!" and then shake the boy "DIDN'T ANYONE EVER TEACH YOU SOME TACT AND MANNERS???" And that is when I get escorted off the school grounds for being "that parent" and the kids and parents alike whisper to each other when we pass by and Em no longer gets invited to birthday parties or sleepovers because she has that crazy, emotionally unstable mother, and she becomes that girl in the back of the class that out of loneliness develops the habit of....OH WAIT!

Let's snap back to the present moment where my daughter is standing in front of me, bouncing and grinning out of joy with the note clutched in her hand that says "Do you want to be my girlfriend? Circle one: Yes/No". She is so happy. And more than that, she has the trust in me to confide in me these things. To tell me who she has a crush on, and that she doesn't care if people don't understand it, she likes him anyway. And that she can tell me how happy she is that he sent her this note. And that she can also tell me when she is hurting, or confused. That she can tell me when she needs a moment to herself, and that she has learned enough about herself in this world to know when she needs a hug and that she knows she can always get one from me. The angry lioness of a mom is slowly getting quieter and quieter because I am struck with the thought: Oh damn, I must be doing SOMETHING right...

GO ME!