Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

Bump, Bang, Thump! Giggle, giggle, giggle. Whack, Boom! Giggle, giggle, giggle.  I sighed, burrowed deeper into my covers and pulled the pillow over my head trying get to sleep. What in heaven’s name were those girls doing? And how in the world could three girls ages 18, 17 and 14 sound like my two boys wrestling out in the living room?

Ever since I had kids, especially Laura, my only girl, I can’t tell you the number of people that have shook their heads at me and said, “She’s sweet now, but just wait. . .”  Truly, what a horrible thing to say to a young mother with a sweet, little baby!  How often have we mothers heard and bought into the lie that of the “Just Waits?”  “Those teenage years”, they tell us, “Just wait.” I’m not quite sure what I’m supposed to be waiting for, but I’m a firm believer that you get what you expect.  I expect a delightful daughter and so far, that’s what I’ve gotten.  She’s 14 and so I’m still waiting, for what?  Last night there were four other young ladies around my dining room table, three in their late teens and one in her early 20’s.  All of them further proof against those dire “just wait” warnings.  In fact, right before dinner, as I was making pizza Nathan asked me, “Should the boys and I go somewhere?” Laura immediately exclaimed, “NO! I would be so sad if my family wasn’t here at my party with me.”  And all of her friends were just as delighted to share pizza and birthday cake, and I might add, plenty of giggles around the dinner table with our family too.

I did find out what was going on.  The three were playing with Laura’s new digital camera.  Considering what teenage girls could be doing on a Friday night. . . And they weren’t holed up in Laura’s room trying to get away from “the parents.” No, they were sprawled around our living room where Nathan was working on taxes.  Silly girls, having fun, delightful girls, innocent girls, the way girlhood should be.

The girls around my table get a little bigger every year.  The naysayers don’t quit. But I say bring it on you pessimists!  The girls I know just wanna have fun.  You just wait. . . someday, they’re going to change the world!