The Hazard Chronicles

 I'm just going to borrow Rachel's post on Facebook for this blogpost, even though it's a little late: 

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Something wonderful happened at our house this weekend. We are excited to now have a teenager in our family!

Evelyn is growing into a fantastic young woman who loves anime, drumming, creating art, scary movies, hanging out with friends, baking, and hoodies. She is fun to talk to about life, and I love her witty humor.

Teenage years can be wild, exciting, busy, unpredictable, and fun. I look forward to enjoying the ride.

She has inherited Rachel's apparent immunity to cold weather. She often walks to school in below-freezing temps in nothing but a hoodie and jeans.

I told her to look angsty (after all, she is a teenager now). This is the best she could do.

Just some context to know what's going on here- we took a family walk and Evelyn sort of disappeared for a while. I walked around by myself looking for her, and finally found her down by the river with a set of sidewalk chalk. All of this will be underwater in about a month, but for now, she has created a beautiful mural for those who can hike far enough out of their way to find it.

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I have to say that for years I have been looking forward to the teenage years for our kids. It seems like many parents roll their eyes and give me a condescending smile when I say this. "You don't know what you are in for," is what they seem to be expressing. But to me, that prospect is all the more exciting! They are right- I don't. Nobody does. But teenagers and so cool, and are rarely given the credit they deserve. Evelyn acts more and more like a young adult every day, and in doing so becomes so much more relatable. She is definitely her own person and she sometimes surprises me, usually in good ways. I feel lucky to have her in our family, and as cliché as it may sound, I am thrilled to watch her grow into the amazing person that she is.

Here's to many more years, jamming with one of my favorite people. Isn't that what parenting teenagers is about? Jamming? I think so.