There’s Always Something Missing When You Have a Teenage Daughter

I stood in the bathroom with only one eye open. In the glaring light coming from above the mirror, one thing was perfectly clear . . . my eyebrows were growing down my actual eyelids. I reached for my tweezers but it was nowhere to be found. 

Now, I have teenage daughters and if you do too you know exactly where my mind went.

“GIRLS!” I screamed from my upstairs. “WHO TOOK MY TWEEZERS!”

I, of course, was greeted with silence because both of them had left earlier than me and as is often the case took their make up bags with them. We run chronically behind here and they use their car as their make up station on days when they haven’t had a chance to beautify.

I grumbled as I tried to fix my hair to hang over my eyelid and counted myself lucky to be able to find my brush and hairspray.

When you live with teenage girls you just never know. 

We’ve gone to battle over shoes, sweaters, jackets, hair ties, bobby pins . . . the list goes on and on. On one hand, I’m happy they even want to borrow my clothes. It makes me feel a little bit like I might still be hip. Although I’m pretty sure no one uses that word anymore. Is on fleek still a thing? Who can keep up?

On the other hand, I often feel like I am losing my actual mind.

There is nothing more frustrating than getting dressed and heading down the stairs only to see your boots walking out the door on your daughter’s feet. And of course, going to work looking like there is a caterpillar growing out of my eyebrow is always a real treat.

But as I watch them walk out the door my heart drops just a little. They are walking out and driving away all on their own. Their days with me are numbered and soon I will be swimming in bobby pins and hair ties and my brush will always be right where I left them. They won’t be here to borrow my sweaters and they also won’t be here to let me borrow theirs (OK full disclosure I consider their wardrobes mine as well). 

And when that day comes, my heart . . . oh, my heart . . . I know it will long for them to be back under my roof. It will long for the days of the chaos of who gets to borrow what and all the joy that comes along with it. It will long for the hugs I get to give them while they wear my stolen sweater and the kisses I get to give their heads that are adorned with the bobby pins they have taken without asking.

Because even though these sweet, tall babies of mine are random thieves of all my belongings they have also stolen a piece of my heart. 

You may also like:

Dear Teenage Daughter, Let’s Fix the Friction Between Us

Dear Teenage Daughter, I Will Be Right Here Waiting For You to Come Back

Dear Daughter, This Is Worth Waiting For

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Articles by Amy Betters-Midtvedt

Amy Betters-Midtvedt

Amy Betters-Midtvedt is a writer, educator, mom of 5 crazy kids, wife to a patient husband, and lover of Jesus. She writes along with her friend and former teaching partner Erin over at Hiding in the Closet With Coffee. Our mission is to help parents find sanity and joy, and we know sometimes joy is found hiding out in the closet with coffee, or hiding out on Facebook — come and join us both! You can read more about us here. You can also find us hiding out over at Instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter.

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