ode to a teenaged baby girl.

What an incredible weekend!  Junior Prom.  Frantic trips to get the perfect pair of sticky boobs (if you have to ask, you don't need to know), hair, curls!, glamorous makeup for the teenager that looks breathtaking with an AIM field hockey tshirt and Nike gym shorts.  Legs that go on for miles.  Nail polish, and hurry up Mom....it's picture time and we're late!  Not at all unlike the Oscar Red Carpet.  What's keeps me going?  It's the smile that does it.  Perfect straight pearly whites, yes.  And so much much more.

It's the grace of her confident walk in 5 inch peep toe patent leather pumps, it's the kiss she plants firmly on my cheek as she gets on the party bus, even though everyone is looking.   It's the light that illuminates her flawless skin as she naturally poses with her friends at sunset.  It's the confident look she has trying to put on her date's boutonneire without drawing blood on his white smoking jacket.  It's the tear I quietly brush away as I flash forward to a year from now when she will leave me to start the next chapter of her life as a young woman.

I will try to enjoy the ride.  It's going to be a long year.