There is a time in your life as a mom when things change. They actually have been changing all along but you finally notice it when you get that look. You know that look. It’s that look accompanied by an eye roll that says,”no mom you are not cool and definitely not funny.” This from that same daughter that used to look up to you, that believed what you said was gospel and who often gave you rib crushing hold-on-to-dear-life hugs.
You wonder what it was that you did. Why is it is that you are no longer that amazing mother that you used to be. As my daughter entered her teen years I was no longer welcome to be her confidante, her soother of social hurts, her model for how she could live her own life much less someone she look to for advice when picking out what to wear.
I think it started when I foolishly stuck my hand out of the sun roof window to wave at her saying, “here I am!” while waiting for her in the long car line at school. It took a while for her (and me) to recover from that unintentional humiliation.
Then spring break in Hawaii, we took surfing lessons together. That’s when I got back my cool factor, if only for a moment.
“Wow, your mom really rocks,” said the twenty something surfing instructor. “Did you see what she did, that other wave bumped her, but she caught her balance and kept on standing up. She must take yoga or something.” My daughter sheepishly told him, “Actually, she is a yoga teacher.” “Well,” he said, “that explains why she is amazing. She is a super hero!” When you are a young teenager and a seriously ripped and evenly bronzed surf teacher tells you that your mom is amazing (due to yoga), you have to believe him.
So for that afternoon, I had a super hero glow about me … and I think it still may be there, deep inside if only noticed by me.
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