Thursday, November 13, 2008

About the Mothership

Hi! I’m Lynn Armitage, and I am lost in space – a stratosphere of life called The Teen Years. It is unfortunate that our children don’t come with Owner’s Manuals (though I tried desperately to look for one the day I brought my newborn home), but boy, could I use one now! I have two teenaged daughters -- a 19-year-old who is away at college, and a 15-year-old daughter who drives me nuts most of the time, and she claims that I do the same for her.

At least we have THAT in common.

Then there are those really great moments between us, when I want to hug my little-big girl tight enough to stop time (that thief!) dead in his tracks; moments that play out like that scene from “Titanic,” when Kate Winslet is floating all alone in the icy water, crying out in a barely audible voice to the distant lifeboat, “Come back! Come back!” Only I’m screaming silently to my daughter, “Don’t leave! Don’t leave!”

On bad days, we fight over the smallest of things – too much eyeliner, revealing shirts with age-inappropriate necklines, the rap-crap music she listens to (what happened to songs that tell a good story, like everything The Eagles ever did?), her piles of dirty laundry, the constant eye-rolling, and the damn iPhone stuck in her ear that offers the perfect excuse for why she can’t hear me yelling at her.

On good days, it’s so easy, just the two of us. We laugh. We watch “Impractical Jokers” together. We share a cup of her homemade peppermint cocoa. It's just so easy.

 I am a former editor and award-winning, syndicated columnist; a contributing writer for Indian Country Today and creator of the "Spirit of Enterprise" column; founder of Great Hotel Restaurants; a blogger for ontheculture.com/, created by Author and Washington Times Columnist Marybeth Hicks; an entrepreneur and small business owner; and lately, a professional daydreamer, wondering what all the mothers WITHOUT teenagers are doing today.

It's a crazy planet we live on -- and I'm happy to be sharing it with a couple of awesome teens.

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2 comments:

Palymama said...

I'm so glad to see this blog. I thought I was the only one interested in this subject! I started my blog, www.Tangerinetimes.com: the Sweet and Sour Life with Teens" just 2 months ago. It seemed everyone was blogging about younger kids - not teens! Great site and glad to see like-minded Mothers!!

Lynn said...

Bberrymom,

Not sure what else to call you, but thanks for poking your head into our blog. I checked out your blog and it really held my interest! And I loved that video you linked to of the single mom and her biracial kids. Funny stuff. Great little actors in that family. I am going to put your blog in my blogroll. And you're welcome to put ours in yours, too! Come back and visit again!