Daughter # 2

So lying in bed may not be the best posture for posting to the blog but it sure beats going downstairs this morning while there is still a chill in the air. Teapot is lightly snoring next to me and Narmin has cuddled up by my feet. It is quite peaceful, and so it is a perfect time for a post.

Yesterday was Daughter #2's birthday, so she got to ditch school and go shopping with me. We do this every year since I really find that we talk like at no other time. It is a kind of mother/daughter healthy relationship day.

Daughter #2 can be rather difficult to read sometimes. She can be very-keep-to-herself if you know what I mean. I am glad we have a day where we actually make an effort to spend time together.

Over the years, Daughter #2 has had difficulties at school with being bullied and I have occasionally documented  that here. Sometimes I think it is because she is painfully self conscious. There are reasons for this since she is 5 ft 11(not that that is an issue as my dear friend who is over 6 ft tall would say), and is impossibly unathletic. Apparently these two thing should go together according to the school popularity rules out there in the ether. These two things make her stick out like a sore thumb in a school where being athletic counts.... I mean really counts.  On top of that, she is extremely bright, with a penchant for being sarcastic bordering on being caustic. This along with being artistic, sensitive about icky things like dissections in science class and receiving needles from the nurse when she arrives from the department of health, and being highly creative and imaginative, and slightly judgmental does not earn her brownie points. Lets just say that high esteem clearly are not on the horizon from her classmates and she certainly wouldn't win any popularity contests. As her mother, I try to look at her clearly and see her faults as well as her perfections. I am constantly amazed at how quick she is at being clear headed about things she sees and hears, sometimes picking up stuff way beyond her years and she does it faster than I can with all my years of experience. Her drawing, painting, and other art skills far surpass mine. She is quite remarkable really. Still that caustic side does not earn her friends and she can be dreadfully lazy and maybe a bit thoughtless at times. So it does not surprise me that she has this bullying problem.

 Recently the fellow who was sort of the ring leader of the bullying has been ostracized by the "popular" girls... (because he is a complete lame-o)... evidently the popular girls have recognized his over inflated ego/head and have made an effort to cut him out of the fold. Daughter #2, and a couple of other kids who are in the same boat as her, have been going to the quiet room to eat lunch and gab about whatever "unpopular" kids talk about (not smoking, or partying, or the opposite sex or any other superficial thing). They do their thing on their lap tops/iPads and generally hide out. Recently, said bully who has plummeted in the cool department, finds himself more and more with no one to hang with, and has resorted to joining the "uncool" kids. Daughter # 1 and I both think this is poetic justice! Daughter# 2 just puts her head down when he enters the quiet room, taps on her iPad and grins. In my mind I think I would be doing a little success dance and saying "What now! Sucker!" Evidently a slight competition in the marks department has sprung up between Daughter #2 and said bully.... only his math marks pown (I'm using her words... pown apparently means... this). She has been diligently trying to improve her math marks but he apparently is a math genius and can answer math questions in split seconds while others are still figuring out what the question was. Daughter #2 has always struggled with math and it is her low mark (it's still a pretty solid "B"). Still poetic justice reigns supreme and every time I hear of his fall from grace... I can't help feeling a little satisfaction... I know that is unChristian but there it is... I guess I'll have to ask forgiveness somewhere along the way.

Anyway, our day yesterday was fun. We shopped for material since she has decided that she wants to learn to sew. She ended up buying material for a sundress in a pale blue polly-cotton blend with wee ilets and lace. Then we went for lunch at Boston Pizza where the two biggest wankos sat with their children and reminded me how some women are not meant to ever have children. They spent the whole time talking about botox treaments answering texts and completely ignoring the three children they had with them. I felt sorry for the wee ones.... they will have to raise themselves and they certainly won't receive any kindness or touchy feely nurturing from their respective moms. As a result of that display Daughter #2 and I had a philosophical discussion of motherhood and I was told that I rock/pown. I am now blowing on my fingernails and rubbing them on my chest/puffing up my ego and giving the v for victory sign (And the crowds go wild!)

After that brief experience we went shopping for mattresses for both of the Daughters whose old mattresses are fit for the dumpster. Then poked about the stores looking for everything from nail polish to iPad cases. In general the day was sublime.... and after purchasing an ice cream cake from DQ late in the afternoon we headed home replete from our efforts. Sweatshirts had been purchased, fabric had been purchased, gnomes for the deck had been purchased, shoes had been purchased, abikini top had been purchased, purses had been purchased, hair clips had been purchased and best of all our relationship had been nurtured a little.

When asked if she had enjoyed her day,  I got a hug.... a rare commodity indeed.

PS.  I won't be at knit night tonight as Teapot needs the truck....