Alone Time With Kayla

Kayla and I went on our first trip together last weekend. That was our first time to go anywhere without anyone else but the two of us. We left Daddy behind... poor Daddy.

Kayla is at that difficult age of 14 when she is establishing her identity so we tend to clash a lot. Menopause vs. puberty. And then... a whole weekend together with no one to referee us??? Impossible!

Surprisingly, the trip went relatively peacefully. We enjoyed it a lot. I may be impatient with Kayla's being argumentative but she amazes me with her street smarts... literally. She figures out how to get from one point to the other. All I need to do is pick up a map with a train route and lean back as she figures it out. It's pretty good. When we're on the train, she tells me how many stops to count before we get off. She even has alerts like last train stop, Mom, we get off on the next one. I inch towards the train doors.

Since we were on our own, I got us some guided tours for our first day and we met some other tourists. She relates very well with new acquaintances and easily holds casual conversations with strangers. She's very socially skilled where I am a klutz. I'm generally a klutz anyway. I was entertained by her knowledge as well. She was able to discuss culture and norm with the guide who was trying to compare our countries. She's amazingly nerdy.

On our way back, she remarked that our time together was well-spent. We didn't argue as much as I thought we would. Clearly, she was apprehensive about that, too.

Menopause vs. Puberty should be a book. I'll write it.