When You Have A Twelve Year Old Daughter

You can lay on her bed and talk about what you have each been writing.

She sometimes wants hugs and is chatty.  She sometimes recoils from your touch and wants to be left alone.

You can give her advice on hair, clothes, books to read, cleaning her room...and she'll ignore every word.

Sometimes she stays up until 2:00 a.m. reading.

She'll do surprising things like dishes without being asked, or she'll help her younger brother clean his room.  (Or she'll tell him to "go away.")

She will make you laugh with her cleverness and ability to remember funny lines from books and movies.

She will make you wonder at what goes on in her mind when you read her poetry.

You may have the exact same color of eyes...

...but she may have better eyelashes.  (Do I even have eyelashes?)

Having a twelve year old daughter means loving a headstrong, sometimes timid, sometimes confident, always creative, affectionate, prickly, sensational girl.

At least for me that's what it means.