Teenage daughters.

It's Saturday morning. My daughter is earning money cleaning the house, and I'm doing some other stuff. TV is tuned to music videos, and one of my new favorites just came on: Martina McBride's "Teenage Daughters":

I ain’t complainin’
But I’m tired, so I’m just sayin’
What I think
And if we’re being honest
Than honestly I think I need a drink

[It's a little early at the moment, but sure! Sign me up!]

My baby’s growin’ up
She think’s she’s fallin’ all in love
And that I hate her
At seventeen, she’s just like me when I was seventeen
So I don’t blame her

[I'm blessed that this isn't completely accurate. She's only 15, and I'm pretty sure she knows I don't hate her. BUT, I do remember 17, and it's not hard to project a little.]

Remember when we used to be
Everything they'd ever need
We had them believing we were cool
It’s like it happened overnight
We’re always wrong, they're always right
We used to be the ones breakin’ the rules
Now we’re just mothers, we’re just fathers of
Teenage daughters

[The chorus -- I don't want to not be cool! We bought a pair of shoes yesterday that we can both wear -- that counts for something, right? I'm sure I'm wrong a lot more than I used to be, but she's still nice enough not to tell me every time. Yet.]

She rolls her eyes when I’m funny
But she’s sweet when she wants money and her freedom
Oh my god, she’s got a car
Swears they won't go far
And I wish I believed ‘em
They're beautiful, wild and free
Everything we wish we could be
But they're still crazy
Oh you know, they make us crazy

[It is sad when parents aren't nearly as funny as we used to be. :-) Or even better, when we surprise them by still being funny.]

This is all a little tongue-in-cheek. I'm not naive enough to think that there will never be struggles or arguments, that I'll always like her friends, or agree with her choices. And I'm not forgetful enough to say it hasn't happened before. But the blessings she brings to my life far outweigh the rest. I can only pray that she stays grounded in her faith and that when I irritate her, she knows it's part of my job.

And when those moments come along, I'll remind myself that I'm not alone as the mother of a teenage daughter.

[Here's Martina if you haven't heard the song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGnVKpROw4Y]

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