Bless the teenager...

Bless the teenager who doesn't turn on the light downstairs so she won't wake you up (note bedroom doors shut and walls to keep light out) but uses the pencil sharpener (very noisy). When you go downstairs and ask why the lights were off she says because I didn't want to wake you. When you asked what the very weird scraping noise was she says, "the pencil sharpener." When you point out that the lights wouldn't bother anyone, but that the pencil sharpener was loud, she gets a little testy. She has the PSAT this morning. She asks, what was I supposed to do? I needed the pencils. You don't point out that she could have prepared them the night before but you do suggest that she could have taken the pencil sharpener to the garage--she gets a little more annoyed. When you explain that you've used the blender in the garage early in the morning so as to not wake people she looks super annoyed. Ah, parents... (I don't think that's what she thought.) And then you drive her to the PSAT. She glares at you most of the way. (In my memory, I enjoyed taking the PSAT and SAT... Seriously. I don't share this with her.) You drop her off and you go home. As soon as you sit down she texts that she forgot her ID. You ask where it is, drop everything and run it back to her. Yup. She does say thank you. She is still stressed. You smile and wish her luck. You know she's working hard to learn and do it all. She got herself up, got ready, packed snacks, and did it all (almost) herself. You wish you hadn't have said anything about the pencil sharpener, but you did. You're proud of her. She glares a lot. She is sullen. (I didn't know what sullen looked like until this last year. Now it's the perfect word.) You tell yourself, "developmentally appropriate behavior." You are happy for her. You put up your teen angst shield that deflects all annoyances and cold shoulders. It's the only way. You feel a little sad, but you know it's what she needs to do. You wish you could do it for her, and you wish she wasn't so stressed about everything, but that's who she is. Oh, oNe, I love you! You are an incredible girl. You are super smart and funny. You are growing up.