2:26 am................

So, here I sit, at the computer... sounds from the living room confirm that the teenage girls here for a sleepover aren't sleeping. Why do I sit here still? Thinking that I can outlast them? Thinking that I might hear a bit of their conversation and get a feel for my daughters friends? Thinking that if I go to sleep now, I will oversleep and not be ready when their parents show up tomorrow? I don't know why, but here I sit.

My daughter turned thirteen yesterday. I am the mother of a teenage girl. I am really NOT happy about that! NOT! She is already hormonal and hard to live with, now I am going to have to start letting her be... just a little... on her own. Maybe that is why I am sitting here. I am not fond of one of the friends that is here, and there are two others that I barely know (in fact, I find it interesting that neither family came in to meet us before leaving their daughter here to spend the night! I would never do that! What if we were somehow deranged?) and I am trying to get a sense if my daughter makes wise choices in her friends... 2 of the 5 girls she invited, I think are pretty trustworthy... but the jury is still out on the others.

I am wondering if they will help my daughter clean the living room before they leave... there is confetti and starburst candies and m&m's everywhere... I think they were having a "food fight" with candy!

My 9 year old wanted SO BADLY to be one of the big girls... she stayed up until 2, but is finally asleep... I will not be happy if those shrieking, giggly girls wake her up! She wants to be 13 also, but I am glad that she is still in single digits!

So, it is now 2:37, the lights are back on in the family room... they are being noisy... WHY did we agree to a sleepover???? Did she catch us at a weak moment?? Was I not really paying attention??? I did this 2 years ago and vowed NEVER to do it again... but, here I am!

Heaven help me... I just went out to get a glass of water, and there was talk of "bases" and I am sure no one out there plays softball! I am SO not ready for the teenage years!! I have to trust that I raised her this far to be a smart, sensible, modest girl. I have to trust, because I am not always going to be sitting in the other room listening... and I am not ready to lock her in a tower... not yet anyway!

Well, It is time for me to go to bed I think... I can't outlast them, but I can trust that she is who I think she is... someone who will NOT be talked into breaking the rules... someone with an ounce (or more) of sense... someone who will look me in the eye tomorrow and tell me what all happened while I slept.