Monday, July 13, 2009
Little pieces of the future are arriving everyday
Dropped the girls off yesterday for their first foray into sleepaway camp land. Being at my old camp brought back so many memories. Most great. Some unpublishable. Both girls were eager to see us go back to Brooklyn so they could start their time there. After forcing them to hug me and pose for a photo, I realized how necessary their semi-rejection was. I remember just how important it was to reinvent myself in a new place. A place where it didn't matter who I was back at home, but did matter who I was there. At that moment. All these YA books I'm reading for class feature characters trying on personas, new friends, new identities, new ways of looking at the world. Seeing if they fit. Seeing if they need to be adjusted. The self I developed over 9 years at this same sleepaway camp is truly at the core of who I am now, and who I have been in my adult life. So I won't mind the hasty and embarrassed good-bye too much. I know now I am hugging a little more of who they will become. More pieces of these new young women are arriving everyday...
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Wow this is a great post. Your daughters are really lucky to have you understand what they're going through. My guess is so many parents don't understand. I'm glad the lit is so evocative of these issues. Ultimately, I think the heart of reaching teens is understanding what they need and what they're thinking, and I think using characters from what we've been reading make a great case study. Thanks for this.
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