Fireworks & Dating

It started with a Facebook Status:
"GIDDY! I've never been so GIDDY!!!!!!!!!"

I look around for Daisie
but she isn't home.

"I'll talk to her when she gets in."

But I forgot about it.

Until the next day,

the next Facebook Status:

"GIDDY! GIDDY!!"

--followed by comments of her friends:

"Why so giddy?"

"It's gotta be a boy!"

"Of course it's a boy!"
Okay. Time for some face-time
with this child of mine.

I must be calm, cool and collected. She is number 5 child of 7...
I've seen these fireworks before.

"So, Daisie, I see you're feeling very excited
about a new 'friendship' at school?
Wanna tell me about him?"

Much giddiness ensues and I have to wait for her cheeks to

stop steaming and the sparks in her eyes to fade so she can
FOCUS.

--this is gonna take awhile.

sigh.


Then she started sparking like a firecracker:

"OhyesMom! (inhale) HisnameisAlexandwelikedeachothersincelastyearbutwedidn'treallytalkthatmuchandnowwedoandwehadlunchtogetherandthenhetoldJackiethathelikedmeandweweretalkingonfacebookandheprettymuchsaid hereallylikesme!" (exhale)

"Well, that's really fun to know that someone thinks you're special enough to want to get know better, isn't it?"
Her body temperature is about 2000 degrees.

She rapid fires like lady fingers,
one detail after another...
I have to really focus
but not so much
I will get a headache.

I don't have to tell her she can't date till 16,

she tells me she's already told him that

and "he's okay with it!" (as if he had a choice!)

So then I ask, "Well, what happens now?"

She hadn't thought of the what next part.

We've had the conversations of what dating

really means at any age younger than 16--
"Even if he confesses his undying love for you,

what does that mean?

He's in 9th grade.

He doesn't have a job, a car or an education.

His momma still does his laundry and drives him to Scouts."
That puts things into perspective

pretty quickly,

ya know?
That's the hope.

Saturday
Daisie sparkled into my room
asks mushily if she could get online
because "he's online".
"Sure, why not?" I said.
My day got busy and

I lost track of how long she'd been online without a break.

Then Mr. Wonderful pulls me aside and asks,

"Do you know how long she has been online today?

FIVE HOURS! FIVE.

Yikes!!
Okay Okay I think...how should I handle this?
Not even a potty break?
Nope.
Okay, it's alright. Every little thing is gonna be alllllright.

I assure Dad that this is really in OUR favor.
"Remember when we were young? We'd stay on the phone forever:
'What're you doing?'
"Nothing. What're you doing?"
"Nothing. Whaddya wanna do?"
"I dunno. What do You wanna do?"
"I dunno."
Time stood still in those moments.
Texting online takes so much longer than
a real conversation,
what with typos and all. Let's watch this play out."

Young relationships burn fast and furious,
full of excitement and wonder,
then like sparklers
*poof* they are over!

While girls want to know Every Stinkin Thing

about the Object of their affection,

boys have little interest in all that "complicated stuff".

Girls' Questions:

"What's your favorite color/icecreamflavor/TvShow?
"Do you really like my hair/friends/dog/cat?"

"What color is your toothbrush?"
Boys' Questions:

"What's Up?"


So I talked Mr. W off the ledge and said,

"Let the fire burn."

When she finally peeled her bum off the chair,

the giddiness had dissipated

I could tell.

The flame was gone.
I say to her as she walks by,

"Not all you thought, eh?"

" Everything he says is one-word answers and he doesn't questions about me." she pouts.
"He doesn't know any." I comfort.

"Hmmm. Yeah. I guesso." she says as the wind blows out the flame.

and she disappears down the hall to her room.

I return and report to Mr. Wonderful:

"It's over. The Giddiness has succumbed to teenage angst and unrealistic expectations.It was a grand show of colors and design but smoke and ashes now. What's on TV?"