Thankfulness...Day 100

I am forever thankful for the Bug...aka my daughter.  She turns 13 next month and sometimes she pulls really hard away from me trying desperately to become her own woman.  However, she also works hard to wake up at least 5 minutes earlier than she needs to wake up so we have time to cuddle and talk about the best moment and worst moment of the previous day.  Every so often she will call out to me in the hall and she doesn't balk yet when I ask for a hug or a kiss before bed.  She is trying so hard to be a mature young lady...but I still see the little girl peeking out every now and again.  Best part about her...hands down...she loves me...even when she is having a creepy preteen moment...even when I get the scrunched up 'why are you making my life hell' face...even after a treatment when I either spend hours in the bathroom or hours sleeping it off in my bed...she is there...the loving little girl.  I thought a Top 20 things that make me thankful for the bug would be appropriate.
20. He still enjoys playing and imagining amazing games that do not involve a Nintendo or television.
19. She is creatively messy like her mommy
18. She loves a pajama day more than the average preteen.
17. She is almost always up for a sushi date and has been since she was 4 years old.
16. She wades her way through pre-algebra...compound interest...areas of various shapes with ease...I never waded through anything math related with ease.
15. She will try anything once...she may not ever wish to try it again...but at least I can get her to give it a whirl once.
14. She loves to be outside...she has a special tree she climbs when she needs time to think.  Watches the squirrels and birds int he tree.  It brings her peace.
13. Animals are what make her world go round.  She can tell you about almost any animal...she searches on the Internet for more information...YouTube...animal planet.  I have watched more shows than I would try to count...and she has watched that many more without me.
12. She loves to create things.  When she was little my mom would buy her "fat quarters" at JoAnn's and make puppets, clothes for her stuffed animals or veils for herself.  She likes to paint, make things with clay.  It is another way for her to be creative and cope with the world around her!
11. She is picturing an amazing life for herself.  4 years ago she wasn't sure she wanted to finish high school and now she changes her career path almost daily. Every path she looks down is more fantastic then the last.  Her imagination is limitless!
10.  She adores making silly faces to make me laugh.  She has been making them quite a bit lately.  She wants to take care of and protect her mommy almost as much as I want to take care of and protect her.
9. She likes my "vintage movies"  I am not to thrilled about the "vintage" title.  I mean yes, the came out before she was born...but they did not come out before I was born.  Whatever...she loves the Goonies as much as I do and she is a fan of Back to the Future and Adventures in Babysitting as well.  I think I may rent Cant' Buy Me Love for her 13th B-day.
8. She sings with no inhibitions.  For the last to years she has gotten up in front of her whole school for the Talent Show and belted out her current favorite song. Eyes closed, singing out and hand motions included.  I makes my heart happy to watch her.
7. She makes time to cuddle.  I hope that lasts just a little longer. I know at some point she will be completely overtaken but the supercool teen that is lurking under the surface, so I am just relishing every morning we get to cuddle before breakfast and watch the new funny YouTube something or talk about our day.
6. She truly loves hr family.  She seeks out time with each member, and wants that time to be special.
5. I am thankful for her laugh and her smiles.  They light up a room...they make any day the seems so dark, better in a split second...if the smile doesn't do it...a good giggle leaves me powerless.  Love love the laughter!
4. She is so adaptable.  At her age I had lived in exactly one house that I was old enough to remember.  I had both my parents living under the same roof, and I had only attended one school.  She has lived in more places than I can count.  Survived the implosion of her parent group.  Biggest of all survived a move to Fort Worth on her own.
3. The above reason brings another one to mind.  Bravery.  As a 9 year old child she came into a room and asked if she had to go back to Beaumont with me.  She was brave enough to make a change that changed the trajectory of her educational life...a change I wasn't brave enough to make until she showed me that it wasn't so bad.  She is my example for how to deal with my disease (mostly) with grace and bravery.  I fall down every now and again, but then I remember the Bug and it gets better.
2. She is so introspective.  I is always listening to those around her even if it looks like she is doing several other things.  She takes it all in and works her way through processing it.
1. Most of all I am thankful she is mine!
Have a great day!
To the moon and back,
Sarah
quote of the day...inspired by the Bug