Birthday Bash?

I thought I’d wait until tonight to post so that I could write about my daughter’s birthday party. She’ll be 15 on Tuesday and wanted a pool party. So she invited five of her girlfriends and we decked the house in Hawaiian decor, complete with pineapple fruit bowls and Hawaiian shish kebabs, leis and lantern garland.

Then only two of her friends showed up. And it rained.

Of course, we made the best of the situation and even had some family join us for cake and presents and everything worked out in the end.

But I am That Mom, the one who wants to rush to my children’s rescue when they (or their feelings) get hurt. At 15, there is little that I can do, and often even less that I should do. This is an age of learning how to cope and make the most of hard situations without Mom or Dad making everything better. This stage is as hard on the parents as it is the kids.

Only yesterday Laina was learning to ride a bike and asking me to sing her to sleep. Today she is preparing to get her learner’s permit, awaiting her letterman’s jacket and taking early college classes through her high school. Where did my baby go? And with her, my title of Supermom, able to fix any problem and leap small buildings?