Growing Up Is Hard To Do

I took the girl to a teen age kid meeting at the library last night. I'm one of those parents who has to walk her kid into the building and check out the scene [this comes from some experience with the criminal justice system, which so frazzled me at first that I was constantly expecting a rapist/murderer to jump out at me when I took the elevator anywhere - that was one of my first cases, and that guy was a fucking asshole], but I'm trying to give her space and let her know she can be trusted with some things.  She begged me not to make her look like a dork, so I took a book in to return.  I'm stealth like that.

We were greeted by an effervescent young girl who was literally bouncing on the balls of her feet, so excited was she to meet my daughter [or maybe it was excitement about the meeting.  No.  It was excitement about meeting my daughter. Who wouldn't be that excited? My daughter is awesome.].  It was alternately a cute and dorky scene, but it warmed  the cockles of my black, black heart.

When I went back to pick the girl up later [no, I did not mortify her by hanging out there, watching her to see what was going on. Although I did maybe linger a bit, pretending I was looking for a book to check out.], she was thrilled.  She was happy to have tried something new and stretched herself to meet new people and find new friends.

Which is what my husband, cousin and I were lamenting the other day.  We are all effervescent, cheery people.  Well, more sarcastic than effervescent, at least until we've had our coffee [or a few drinks], but we were talking about how hard it is to make friends once you leave school, how the adult world is fraught with an inability to meet people easily outside of work.

And my daughter, who evidently listens to what we say, asked, "Well, why don't you do what you always tell us kids to do? Go join a group and you'll make friends that way."


Hard to argue with; even harder to implement.  Maybe that'll be my summer goal - join a different group and meet some new people.  And no, PTA does NOT count.