Birthdays bring up a lot of feelings.  For my peers, we add another candle to the cake and as we blow them out our wish is usually for the health of ourselves and our loved ones and maybe that our anti-aging cream will work a miracle!

A birthday for a child is something different.  Especially when said child crosses over into teendome.  Goodbye 12, helllloooo 13!

My 13th year started off like crap.  At my birthday sleepover party, my “best” friends decided it was time to tell me what a rotten friend I was and how they didn’t want to be my friend any more.

I don’t remember if I stayed the night but I do know that I learned 2 valuable lessons at that party.

1. Friends of three, leave them be.
2. Don’t talk smack about one friend to the other because surprise, they talk to each other!

My daughter Alexa turned 13 yesterday and thank goodness, she’s a much smarter cookie than I was.  I’m happy to share some of my teen foibles with her (to a certain extent).  It’s an entertaining way to show her that while times may change, many things still stay the same.

She’s thrilled to (finally) be 13 and I’m thrilled for her.  Just as I take time to reminisce about what it was like as a teenager, it’s all fresh and exciting for her.  And that, in turn, makes my teen angst seem like it happened a hundred years ago.  More or less!

Now go run!

Keli 🙂