Faster Than a Speeding Bullet

Times have been a changin' round here with our tween girl - things that have changed our little girl into a little lady. And when things change, discussions occur.

Last year about this time I toted her down to our local Catholic hospital (which is no longer Catholic) for a class they call "Growing Girls". The teacher, who happened to be a very dear friend of mine, did a wonderful job of talking about the changes and why they happen.

I was surprised how beautifully she handled it all. We talked freely on the ride home. And then came the question, "So Mama, if you make an egg every month, and you get a baby from an egg, how come you don't have a baby every month."

What I thought was, "SHOOT!" This was not the conversation I wanted to have in a car. In fact it was not a conversation I was prepared for at that moment. I remembered the best advice a wise mother gave me in handling these conversations. She told me to answer their questions when they come up and if their curiosity is satisfied, that's usually enough.

I forged ahead. "Well, in order for there to be a baby, there has to be a mom and a dad."

"Oh," she said from the back rather matter-of-factly, "you mean they mate?"

"Exactly," I said. And, that was the end of that.

I remember discussing this subject with my mother at a very young age. She got a call from another mother saying if she wanted to be the one to tell me about the birds and the bees, she needed to do it now because my friend had found out from an older sibling and the word was out.

My mother, the nurse, gave me a book to read and talked to me about it as much as I could stand. I don't remember much other than thinking there was absolutely no way MY parents did that. After our discussion, she informed me she was going to send my dad in so I could ask him any questions. Here my memory gets very clear. I was sitting on the kitchen counter and my dad walked into the room.

"Do you have any questions?"

I quickly muttered, "No."

He said, "Okay," as he walked out of the room and I breathed a huge sigh of relief.

So here we are, in the blink of an eye later and I have a daughter who I now have to give a few more details so she won’t forever have an Animal Planet view of how babies are made. Because our last class went so well, I figured I give it a shot for the next batch of information. Yesterday I signed us up for a class called "The Birds, the Bees and Me" at the same hospital taught by the same friend.

Sigh.

This is not the part of parenthood I considered. When I was holding that teeny bundle of sweetness in my arms in the delivery room, I considered school, career, marriage and the like. I did not envision what would have to happen along the way to get her to these dreams.

We’ll get through this…she better than I, I’m sure. It’s not the information or discussion that gets me, but the undeniable fact that she is growing up faster than a speeding bullet. Sometimes I get lucky and catch it for a moment but mostly I stand in awe at the air it moves as it whooshes past.