TBT: This is a Life Lesson I am Learning!

I've been pretty sentimental this past week after taking my oldest girl to her Freshman Orientation for High School. It has me all kinds of weepy, so to just make the mushiness worse I thought I would do a little TBT (Throw Back Thursday) and share one of my favorite posts.

Originally posted on May 7, 2012

This is a Life Lesson I am Learning!

Those words just came out of Shelby’s mouth. 

I am sitting on the sofa recovering – I just taught Shelby how to shave her legs – I think I might cry.

Shelby in talent show make-up...don't worry.

This afternoon Shelby hopped into the car and lifted her arms to show the drama of her day and that is when I noticed that my baby was definitely growing into a young woman before my eyes – she had a few small, but very noticeable hairs under her arms. The dread set in and I asked her if she had noticed that she had hair on her arm pits. “Oh yeah, big ones” she said “can you show me how to save them? Can we shave my legs too?” 

All I could remember is reading Stephanie Nielson’s blog once when she talked about her oldest daughter wanted to shave her legs. Her daughter is the same age as Shelby, but this was a few years ago. I remember Stephanie saying that it was end of her innocence.  This thought played in my head all night and I kept thinking, “When did I learn? Who taught me?” 

On a summer afternoon when I was eight I decided to shave after watching my mother and possibly my sister since she would have been eleven. I shaved every hair on my body while sitting in mom’s bathtub including half of right eyebrow. I walked out of the bathroom feeling all smooth and grown up, I thought maybe the eyebrow went a little too far – my mom didn’t shave hers so I little trim was enough.  I remember getting out the car the next day and my Aunt Patti asking what in the world did I do to my face. I of course said “ummm…I didn’t do anything” thinking she would actually believe half of my eyebrow just fell off over night.

So, after reliving that experience in my mind I decided to buck up and show Shelby how it is done. We first went over the basics – this is a razor and these are your legs.  JAG decided to put his two cents in like he was a pro at leg shaving. He explained how the razor is very sharp and a razor cut hurts a thousand times more than a paper cut – which Shelby cannot stand and cries about all the time.

Shelby and I sat side by side on the edge of the tub with our pants legs rolled up and soap in hand. I hesitated for a moment took a deep breath and showed my baby how to shave her legs. I have to tell you the last ten years and half years flashed before my eyes and I got all kinds of sentimental. I really should have taken a picture, but I thought looking back Shelby will think this blog post is cheesy enough.  As we lathered and shaved and rinsed the hair out of our razors Shelby turned to me and said “this is one of those life lessons I am learning, one of those memories.” All I could say was, “yes it is baby girl.”  Baby Girl – can I call her that forever please? 

You have to understand this comes on the heels of being ambushed with “the talk” during our great disconnect. I had been putting it off and putting it off then Shelby asked “What does promiscuous girl mean?” Seems her friend tried out for the talent show dancing to that song and she didn’t understand why her friend was told she would have to change songs to be a part of the talent show. As we discussed it over macaroni and cheese one night JAG decided it was time to have “the talk.”

I waffled back and forth – I’m not ready, but she needs to know, but I am not ready, but what if someone else tells her. So again I bucked up and we had the talk. Shelby took it well and there is much more talking to do. I want her to know all about the birds and the bees, but not too much. I also want to make sure she is fully aware of God’s plan and purpose for her and His wish for how she should behave. I have a lot of work to do – not that Shelby is showing signs of anything at this point, but I have to be stronger than society. I have to install things in her that her friends will probably try to talk her out of – oh man she has a lot to face in the future. I could go on and on about this topic – my bible study group just spent an entire class talking about instilling morals into our children and we could have talked for hours maybe days about this topic. 

Ok, Shelby is out of the shower so I probably need to stop writing this blog it will be embarrassing enough when she is older and reads it –she doesn’t need that embarrassment now.