Yesterday I was sitting in the garden when my granddaughter came running to me out of breath and anxious.
“I have to talk to you privately, Pennie. I think I‘ve started, but I‘m not really sure.”
She’s marveled at how her body has changed this past year. Most of her friends have bragged and/or complained that this was the year their bodies turned the corner into adult womanhood. She’s laughed when her brothers female friends got crabby, and emotional. She’s listened to the stories of cramps, back ache, and bloating. She’s listened to me when we shared the ’mother’ talks. Still, she wasn’t certain. She wasn’t ready.
She needed confirmation. She needed reassurance. She needed ....
They gave her a starter pack at school. She had hidden it away. She couldn’t find it now that it was needed. So we grabbed our bags and were headed out the door when her father caught sight of us and said, “Where are the two of you going?”
She whispered to me “Are you going to tell daddy?”
I took her hand and held it as I answered, “Your daughter has entered womanhood. We’re just going to run to the store for a bit.”
His face turned soft and I could see that he would have loved to put his arms around the person that the night before had been his baby girl. But she was feeling separated from the men in the family at that particular moment and he seemed to know that. “You two go back, sit down and chat for a bit. Just tell me exactly what she needs and I’ll go get it for her. Does she feel all right? Does she need anything for cramps?”
She and I sat in the garden and I answered questions that she hadn’t thought to ask the day before. “Is that why I have been feeling so fat? Do I have to wear a pad when I go to bed at night? Can I take a bath?
When her father got back from the store he was shaking his head in wonder and disgust.
“You wont believe what the cashier at the drug store just said to me. When I put the purchase on the counter she took my hand and said, ‘Men don’t ever buy this product. You’re very unique. You just made my day.’ What’s wrong with men. Why wouldn’t they buy something so necessary for their women?”
Then he turned to his daughter, handed her the package, laughed,and said, “Now I understand why you have been so ‘bitchy’ the past couple of days.”
She thought that was the most perfect thing that her father could say. It made her laugh. It made her one of the girls like her brother has coming and going from the house. It put her in league with all the other grown up women.
It almost matched his remark about the new padded bras that she bought last week.
It makes me smile that he is being touted at the bottom of this particular entry, but he has a sense of humor and will probably smile himself. We have a new member in J-land. He has had a very interesting life and he does a great job of putting words together. Go take a peek and say 'welcome' to Sam. I think that you will enjoy yourself.
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