FOURTEEN

I'm getting to be that age where you start to realize that you are running out of time. The weird part is that part of you is still a kid inside thinking that there will still be an endless tomorrow. However, you know scientifically it's not true. Everyone and everything dies. Luckily, we still manage to convince ourselves it's something we will deal with another day and so we wake up and go to work and do our thing without too much bother. Occasionally though I start an internal battle in my brain where I am freaking out. I guess it's just to put things into perspective. All this stuff I've accumulated, why bother!??
It's kind of like that part in that Woody Allen movies where the kid talks about how one day the universe is going to die.
Today I had a big screaming argument with my youngest. It was all about where to go to high school. She, as a gifted kid, was attending the Highly Gifted Magnet at Portola Middle School. After three years, the kids became extremely close. But, they are all going to different high schools. Our closest best school is Granada Hills HS and after three years of driving the kid from our area to Tarzana (for a whooping hour and a half commute) I am ready. However, now she tells me she wants to attend the NOHO Highly Gifted High School. Why? Because most of her pals from Portola are going there. I'm not sure she will thrive there and I tell her as much. Screaming ensues. Why can't life be easier, especially with a teen. The experts will tell you that it's natural for a teen to want to pull away. And even though I know this in my brain, it doesn't make it any easier to deal with an enraged teenager. So I do what embattled parents do. Scream back. It works at least.