The Beloved Boots

For my daughter's 13th birthday, she received many gifts. She loves her new stereo, her CDs and DVDs, her makeup and hair products, and many other things a new teenager wants and needs. But her favorite gift was something she purchased herself with some of her birthday money: these boots! She has been eyeing these for a while and had hoped to receive them as a present. Since she did not, she chose to spend a large portion of her gift money on them. Well, I guess this is the beginning of many of these days of choosing what to spend money on: if it's her money, she has to learn to choose wisely. Did she make a good choice? My opinion really doesn't matter in this case. She is happy, even though she did sigh a bit when counting the remaining money. She wore her new boots all evening and beamed with pride as she told everyone that she had purchased them. To each his or her own, I guess. I vaguely remember a faux fur jacket I wanted when I was her age. It was one of the only presents I received one year, but I was oh, so proud of it. The fact that my parents and many other people didn't think it looked so good was irrelevant. I loved it and I was proud of it. I see the same expression in my daughter's eyes as I remember having in mine. So welcome to the world of parenting teenagers: sometimes they like things that we do not. In this case, I won't make it an issue. They are her boots, and she wants to wear them on her feet. So go for it, girl! :) And Happy Birthday, 13-Year-Old! :)