This summer has been so full, particularly with company. Jme took her two-week art class at the university where we stayed, along with a couple of other girls we know who are about her same age, and we think she really enjoyed the experience. Almost as soon as her class was over, we had nearly a month of continuous company that kept us busy and out of our bush community. Which was a good thing. And throughout all of it, She did great. We know that most of the time she wasn’t doing what she might have wanted, but she was a really good sport the whole time.
Her cousin from town invited her to go with her family on a fishing trip for halibut for a week on the coast and then spend a second week in town for the fair. We were hesitant, but finally decided that extending to her this much trust and freedom would be a good reward for sticking with us all summer. But before we let her go (we also suspect she has this quasi-boyfriend/love interest in her cousin's neighborhood) we also had a talk about some things. While we were driving home from town, we had a lighthearted, quiz show style talk about a number of things. I asked her (and this is easier to do when Wifey and I are up front staring out to the road ahead and she is in the backseat being horribly embarrassed) to name three forms of birth control (we prefaced this little round of quizzes with the very clear understanding that she wouldn't need this information until well into her twenties because we expected she wouldn't be having sex of any kind (and we listed the various kinds, and yes they are all sex) until at least then). When she couldn't (or was too embarrassed) to name even one, I asked Wifey, who was able to supply the missing info. We repeated this process with three STD's, and questions and answers about drinking and drug use (she didn't thing that smoking a little weed was considered drug use). In the end we were all laughing and being silly, but she was finally able to repeat back the info we had asked about.
And so we’re back to just us for a little while. It feels weird. It’s very quiet. I had no idea how much noise, activity, energy, company, and phone calls would come with a teenager.
