13

I see you, but sometimes I don't recognize you.  You grow in angling twists and turns right before my eyes like some kind of stop-motion metamorphosis. Sometimes the house feels too small for these gangly limbs and this baritone voice, this need to question boundaries each and every day, this pushing and growing and pushing some more.  Pardon me if I have to step outside and take a breath of the larger world around me. Some days 13 feels all consuming.  I hate slammed doors, locking horns, misunderstandings. However, there are days when it all comes together.  I love and value our honest conversations, shared sense of humor, and that you are brave and true...even when it's not the easy way. Yes, 13 is good...if I remember to breathe and count backwards from ten...13 is good.