Princess has had a rough week, and has taken it all out on me. Earlier this week, I told her I thought we needed a Girls Night on Friday and she agreed. It's something I've been wanting to do for months, but she's just always so busy with work and Senior year stuff. I was very excited about our night, and had planned to play with her hair to decide on prom hairstyles. I even bought new nail polish and her favorite snack foods and planned to rent a movie. My friends invited me out for the evening, but I said no- I'm hanging with my daughter!

So imagine my disappointment, hurt, frustration and anger, when I get a text from her Friday morning: "BTW, Stepping Stone (her boyfriend) has a surprise for me! Going to his house tonight. His mom just got back in town and I missed her. We'll hang out Sunday?"

I lost it. Texts like this piss me off, first of all because I believe children should ASK not TELL what they're doing. It was like she had no regard for my feelings on this. And boyfriend's mom will not be a permanent fixture in her life. (Even though she thinks at the age of 18 she's found "the one.") Also, don't cancel on the day of- that's just rude.

I called Loghead, and prefaced it with: "I'm mad and my feelings are hurt, so when you speak, I want you to be thoughtful and considerate of my feelings." (Therapist suggested I should tell him what I want in advance, so he doesn't act like "a man." This is my first attempt...)

I told him what happened and why I was sad and angry. He paused and said, "You know she loves you, and you are the only mom she really knows. She thinks you will always be there for her, so she can take it for granted. She's young and stupid, and doesn't fully realize how much her life will change in the next four months as she gets ready to go off to school. She will do mean things, but she doesn't really mean it. You just have to weather it out and continue to make offers to spend time with her, and maybe she'll take the bait once. Then she'll remember all the fun you two have and it'll work itself out. Right now, she's a teenage girl. She's young and stupid."

That's exactly what I needed! He said he'd talk to her about it, but for me to just leave it alone, and text back it was okay, we'd hang out Sunday.

I texted her. Then I sat and cried for about 4 minutes and moved on back to my meetings at work. Thank goodness it was a flexible day at work on Friday!

When I got home from work, Loghead had fixed my garden area I had been bugging about, and had bought my picnic table I've been wanting for 4 years! "I knew you had a bad day, and I wanted to make it better," he said.

When Princess came in late last night, I had already drifted to sleep. He really let her have it, and that woke me up. First, she was 20 minutes past curfew, and then he told her how her text broke my heart and how I called him in tears. He told her how that made his heart hurt, that his daughter could be so mean and thoughtless towards the woman he loves, to the only "mom" who ever really loved her...

At first I could hear her responses as just that teen attitude, but then she got quiet. I heard low murmurs coming through the living room wall. A few minutes later, she tapped on the door, but I pretended to be asleep...

Yea, Loghead. Thank you.