Not a teen anymore!
By Nancy Geiger
On May 10th my baby will turn 20!
I can hardly believe it!
She called me a couple weeks ago because she had to do a timeline of significant moments in her life for one of her classes.
Since I have all the photo albums at home she wanted me to look through them and remind her of some of the highlights.
Maybe it was looking at all the pictures of Brittany as a baby and little girl, or maybe remembering that John and I got engaged when we were 20, but I am really wondering how she grew up so fast!
I told her the first significant moment of her life was being born on Mother’s Day. The doctor had told me my baby should be born “around Mother’s Day” somewhere between the 7th and 14th of May. Well, I thought having a baby on Mother’s Day sounded pretty cool so I told everyone that was my due date.
I almost thought I would end up a liar when that Sunday progressed with no sign of anything happening. To cheer me up, John took me out for a Mother’s Day dinner and as we were finishing up I told him I thought we should go to the hospital.
36 minutes after we walked in the door Brittany was born. Not only do I have to thank her for not making a liar out of me, but a 36-minute labor was pretty nice too!
Of course I’ve never been able to say like some moms do during an argument, “How can you treat me that way when I was in labor with you for (fill in the blank) hours!” I tried that once and it sounded so ridiculous we both just ended up laughing. Which did end the argument, just not in the way I intended.
We had her baptized on Father’s Day to give John equal time and she’s had him wrapped around her little finger ever since. I remember when she was three I went on a cruise for my job. I was a travel agent, so it really was work. (Sort of.) Brittany wanted to cruise too so she talked John into sleeping on our boat one night. He said he was awake all night because he could hear all the fishermen who fish around our dock casting every few minutes. He was just sure he was going to get hooked!
Brittany of course slept through it all knowing she was safe with Daddy.
I flipped through the photo albums looking at all the places we had taken her these past 20 years. All the things we showed her. Celebrations we shared.
Last week we went to Western for her sorority’s Parent’s weekend. We have toured the campus several times in the past two years, but Brittany has added some activities to her schedule. She took us on a tour of the hotel where she works and introduced us to her boss and co-workers. She took us to a section of the Student Union that houses Greek Life and showed us the office she spends time in each week for one of her committees, and also the Women’s Resources office where she is on another committee. And she showed us where she sits in the boardroom when she leads the weekly Panhellenic meetings.
I love that she is so interested in everything. I love that she is making a contribution and chose all these things on her own.
I read somewhere that children are not blank pages to be written on, but books to read.
I have to say, I am always eager to turn the next page to see what will happen next! 
'Happy Birthday Brittany' from Baby Boomer Magazine!
Other Real Story Series about Helicopter Parents by Nancy Geiger
Nancy Geiger and her husband are Baby Boomer empty nesters with their daughter Brittany (their only child) now a junior at college. When she left home Nancy started writing a monthly column for their local weekly paper about parenting a college student long distance. After 17 years as a travel agent for American Express, Nancy decided to commit herself to freelance writing and starting an online store, 2 blogs, a website and LOTS of volunteering! She even just published a cookbook called A Brides Cookbook or surviving the First Year:
http://abridescookbook.com
Visit her online store at www.givitup.com
Read her "What I Learned Teaching Sunday School" blog
Follow her "How to Start an Online Store" blog
Check out her A Bride's Cookbook website and blog
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