I Fell in Love With A Girl

About 16 years ago I found out I was pregnant. I had a son and my husband had been told that he couldn't have children. We decided that we would buy a house and we'd tackle the baby thing later. The day before my husband was scheduled for surgery, we found out that he didn't need it.


During my pregnancy I was petrified I would have a daughter. I was okay with a boy, but girls are, well, moody and emotional. I was raised to believe that you couldn't be moody or emotional. My mother was a tough cookie. She tolerated no whining, crying, or feelings typical of girls.


I found out I was going to have a girl and was petrified. Would she and I battle like my mother and I ? Would she resent me? Could I be a positive role model for her? Would she hate me?


We've had a rocky road, my daughter and I. We're really really different people. I lack the patience I think some little girls need. But, we keep working on it. We're getting much better. A relationship is evolving that really is beautiful.



Yes, we argue. She's 15, I'm her mother, it's inevitable. But, we're becoming friends. She is realizing that I was once a girl, 15 years old. Not so long ago I went to the same school that she now goes.

Homecoming was this past Saturday. She went with a group of girls, but no dates. Her and her girlfriends are confident enough to realize that they can enjoy a school dance without needing a boy to escort them. They make their own fun.



She and I shopped and shopped for just the right dress and shoes (hers are the middle pair). It was a painful but wonderful experience. We tried on clothes and laughed. We looked at clothes and argued. We went from store to store, mall to mall. It was exhausting. But we found it, the perfect Homecoming Dress.


I'm trying to teach her to choose clothes that flatter HER body, not what looks good on a hanger. I'm teaching her to take the time to do things right but not to over-do it. She's learning to coordinate an outfit that allows her beauty to shine. She's learning to be self-confident. She learned that her mom can be fun when we spontaneously pierced our cartilages together while shopping at the mall.

My daughter, that little girl that I was petrified to have is amazing in her own right. She makes me proud. To me, she's beautiful. Her smile lights up my world. To me, she was the belle of the ball.

She's mature, she's confident, she's beautiful. She makes me proud to be her mother. She carries herself like a lady and chooses friends that make her a better person. I think she makes them better people as well.

My daughter. I fell in love with a girl and now she's a young woman.