Wander

Kaylee's been busy again lately, which keeps us busy.  Today after I picked her up from school, she had about an hour to get ready and then I dropped her off at her "advanced acting class".  She packed a Greek goddess dress and high heels with her, and when I picked her up from there at 6:30, she changed clothes and went to a Valentine's Day Toga Party thing for her play club at a little café downtown, where they sang and did skits and basically advertised for their "12 Daughters of Hercules" play coming up.    After a second's hesitation, she was out of the car and gone, walking into a place she'd never been, wearing a Greek goddess gown with gold leaves in her hair.  I'd told her I'd wait outside for a few minutes to make sure everything was okay, if she needed anything, and she just waved.  My few minutes later, no text, she was fine and happy, so off I left her.  A couple of hours later I pick her up in her Greek dress, all wound up and excited.  It's funny, as a kid, she's confident to try things or be on her own.  For awhile at the bus stop I'd see parents walk their older children from the bus back to their car.  It never occurred to me to do that.  She knows what the car looks like.  She walks off the bus, finds the car, and we go home.  She doesn't need me to walk her to it.  She doesn't need me to walk her into the café tonight either.  She did need me to go into the doctor's office with her last time for a checkup.  She did need us to wait outside the door of her school for a few minutes at the Christmas Dance, just in case, as a safety net that she never needs.  We can do that, we make a good safety net.  It's kind of a fun job, really, watching somebody spread their wings.  Besides, it's good that she is independent, because around this house you have to be able to take care of yourself to some degree if you plan on surviving.  Even the cats and the houseplants.  ;)

I had someone ask me today about how I felt about her flying by herself some day.  I told him the same thing I always say--no, I'm not worried about it.  When the time comes, she'll have two instructor parents who have done this a few times who won't send her out there until or unless we feel she can handle it. That doesn't mean something can't happen, but I can't live life worrying about all the things that could go wrong, or I'd never get out of bed, and you can't not do anything in hopes that nothing bad will happen.  That's not living either.  Besides, the bad things that do happen to you in life are usually the ones you never saw coming.  That's what I tell myself when I DO worry a little about her DRIVING.  Not actually *her* driving, but being on the road as an inexperienced driver with a lot of other people out there too.  Driving bothers me a lot more than flying.  Motor vehicle crashes are still the leading cause of death for teens in the US, almost 18 drivers under age 20 dying every day.  Now THAT'S a realistic concern.  Anyway, we still have a whopping 2-3 years before we have to deal with that.  Oh boy.  ;)

I watched a movie today called "About Time", a sweet story about a guy who could travel back in time, as could his father.  It was a nice version of that theme, a little different, because it didn't do the whole "butterfly effect" scare tactic, but it did still show him that sometimes no matter how many times you tried, you couldn't change the past, you couldn't make someone love you, you couldn't always stop something bad from happening to someone you love, and you couldn't stop time from moving on.  It wasn't super deep, my synopsis is probably deeper than the movie, ;), but it was, like I said...sweet.

I took this IQ test and got a, well, and got a score such that I wish this thing was real.  :D  I can say I've gotten that score on an actual IQ test in the past too, but I've also gotten a score a lot lower than this on one too.  Don't worry, I don't think a test actually tells you how smart you are. I have felt my brain eroding out of my ears over the last few years, so I was curious about current performance more than anything.  As long as you take easy tests, it's all good, makes you feel better.  It's like renumbering women's jeans sizes!  They aren't the same as they used to be 15-20 years ago.  Trust me.  So take the test and feel better about your brainage.  ;)

Well, it's late, 2:30 a.m., and we have Kaylee's quartet thingy tomorrow morning, so I guess I'll get some sleep...