The BIG day has finally arrived................................

Today, Wednesday November 29, 2006 is my youngest's first anniversary of starting to date her boyfriend! Aren't you excited for her?

Sometime in late August, she started making noises about what her plans were for the big event. I managed to put her off for a few weeks without really paying attention. Come on... The kid has ADHD, who would have thought she could stay focused on one subject for such a long time? Certainly not my experience when I ask her to do something around the house.

By mid September she had decided she was taking the whole day off from school. This kept her in school every single day until today as (in her words), "I am saving my day off for the twenty-ninth." I assured her she could miss more than one day, but in her mind it would have made taking today off less special. Boy, she is just like her mother! And just for the record, she has decided to go to the first two hours of classes, as the big event doesn't actually kick off until early afternoon so she, "doesn't want to sit around and get anxious" about the rest of the day.

If you haven't figured it out yet, I am pretty un-orthodox when it comes to most everything. I am not sure whether or not I told you that (my) Mister and I "hung out together" rather than date, and it wasn't until after we were engaged to be married that we went on our one and only "official" date. There is a point to this tangent that will tie in in a minute. I promise...

(my) Mister's birthday is in September, mine is in October. We had decided to get married and were ring shopping in late summer. Not wanting traditional wedding rings, (come on... we had each been married before, and done all the traditional stuff. We all know how well that turned out for each of us) I picked out a diamond ring that had a wide band to use for both engagement and wedding. I would have gotten a much smaller diamond, but (my) Mister didn't want people to think he was a cheapskate so he insisted the main stone be at least a carat. He assured me it was an investment, but everytime I try to sell the ring for cash he has a fit (because he knows how much I really do love the dumb thing) so while it might be an investment for one of my heirs, it isn't making me much money. Some investment! Back to the point... (my) Mister picked out a ring with a saphire in it (his birthstone), again not traditional, but he really liked it. The plan was for each of us to pick up and surprise the other with the rings at some point in the future. With his birthday right around the corner, I planned a little treasure hunt for (my) Mister. His clues directed him to a couple of stores, where he recieved a small gift and another clue directing him to the next place. One of the clues directed him to the jewelry store where his ring was waiting, along with the final clue which sent him back to his apartment (which at the time was an hour away from where I lived) where I had invited his family to a birthday dinner surprise. I was pretty proud of myself, because I had never met any of his family before (we had only been "officially hanging out" for a couple of months at this time), and yet managed to get his mother's phone number and plan everything without him finding out about any of it. (Must be my sneaky gene at work.) It turned out to be a really great surprise for him.

Now, to tie this back into today, my youngest totally stole my idea and has planned a treasure hunt for her boyfriend. We have had lots of fun picking out the stores, getting the presents, wrapping them, and then giving them back to the store clerk to hold until the hunt begins. She even improved on my idea by making an authentic looking treasure map. Fotunetely she DID NOT set off the smoke alarm when she was burning the edges of the paper to make them look old. She has also promised to warn me the next time she decides to set something on fire inside of the house so I don't think the place is burning down.

I LOVE that she still needs my assistance with these things. I love the fact that she thinks it is strange that her friends barely talk with their moms, let alone spend time doing things with them. Her boyfriend is getting used to the fact that "she HAS to tell me everything that happens in her life, it's just the way she is," (her words, not mine). I am thrilled with that fact since it keeps the young man in line regarding my daughter. Nothing wrong with someone being "afraid of you" is there?

Instead of letting young love have all the fun, use her celebration to get you excited about planning your own. Remember why you fell in love with your special someone and do something fun and special to let them know you still feel that way. (Yes, (my) Mister, I AM talking to you too!) Enjoy this special day.