Changing body. Changing Spirit.

I am trying to understand this strange new person who wakes up in my daughter's room everyday. She has always been temperamental and sensitive. I have come to expect that most dealings with her will involve a challenge. But the cool, snippy voice, the poker face, the propensity for burrowing into her messy bed, and not coming out except for meals or to watch WHAT NOT TO WEAR—these are new behaviors.

I worried for the first few weeks of her personality shift, until I overheard other mothers anguishing about their pre-teens' new personas: Where has my little girl gone? Why has she become an angry hurricane? What’s with the curt tone? And then I found a one word salve: Hormones! How could I have missed the signs? 

Years ago, when I told my daughter the story of “the birds and the bees,” I neglected to research (and remember) what to expect when you're expecting ... puberty. 

This phase of my child’s life, like all the others we will navigate together, requires me to conscientiously explore new information. Today I will slow down to study, prepare for the temporary discomfort and challenge, and eventually come through with an expanded sense of physicality. 

And, I'll relax. Until the next time she calls me a fashion disaster.