Preemptive Worrying

Sometimes my child is nothing like me, like when she says she has spent too much time with people and needs a good long time alone.  As an off the scale extrovert I have a hard time fathoming what that feeling is like.  Clearly it is something she got from her father.

Other times my child is so much like me that I feel like I am having an out of body experience watching my younger self all over again.  This afternoon was one of those times.  After a jam packed weekend of go-go-go where I had hardly seen Carter for more than ten minutes we had some time coming home from horseback riding.  Knowing that I was going to have a salad for dinner that would not suit her I told her we would stop at the Fresh Market and she could go in and get anything she wanted for dinner.  I handed her a $20 bill and withheld my normal lecture on trying to find a healthy choice.

While I was waiting in the car she texted me to ask if we had any asparagus at home.  At first I thought that someone else’s texts were coming into my phone.  I said, “No, go ahead and get as much asparagus as you want.”  A few moments later she jumped in the car with her bag of groceries.

“What did you get?” I asked, thinking it would be a sandwich or something equally readymade.

“I got some chicken sausage, asparagus and chips.”  Shock and surprise.  An actual meal, made up of a healthy protein, green veg and a starch.  I was not about to complain about the chips, baby steps when it comes to letting a teenager pick out her own food.

“Yeah, I found the chips first and really wanted those so I ruled out sushi or sandwiches or wraps.  I looked around the store and saw the sausage and I thought I could cook those.”

Even better I thought.  Not only did she buy real food she is planning on cooking it herself.

“The only bad thing is I was standing in the beer section looking at the different choices that I might cook the sausages in and all of a sudden I remembered I am fifteen and am not allowed to buy beer.  An old guy was looking at me while I was standing there probably thinking the same thing.”

I had a big laugh.  Carter has been watching me cook her whole life and has learned that the right alcohol makes food taste better when you cook with it.

“I just realized something horrible,” Carter said.  “I am going to have to go half way through college without beer or wine to cook with.”

Oh the things you worry about when you are Dana Lange’s child.