Middle School Indigestion

My girl is getting ready for middle school.

My girl is getting ready for middle school.

It’s hard enough to know it but to see it in print causes me a  bit of indigestion. I don’t know exactly how this happened because I feel certain it was just yesterday that I was signing her up for Mother’s Day Out. She was two. And I was happy for her. And for me.

Chuck and I went to a parent orientation Monday night and the strangest thing happened as we pulled into the parking lot. My heart started racing and my stomach dropped like I was on the downhill slide of a roller coaster. My palms got sweaty and I couldn’t stop fidgeting with my sweater hem. It was like I was getting ready for middle school myself and I wanted nothing more than to throw up.

I remember my first day of middle school (except we called it Junior High back then) like it was yesterday. My small town had four elementary schools with about 70-80 kids in each grade at each school. We all poured into one school for 6th grade. I knew I would know the kids coming from my school and a smattering of kids from church but all those strangers…it was terrifying. My mom dropped me at the corner and all the incoming 6th graders were standing on the lawn of the school. It was bright and sunny and I had my new bag with all my school supplies on my shoulder. As I walked towards the crowd, praying I saw a familiar face, a girl with wild and beautiful brown curls started running towards me waving. I smiled and waved back, only to realize she was waving at someone behind me.

To an eleven year old this is the equivalent of social suicide but, to my surprise, I lived. (I ended up meeting that girl later in the day and she became one of my best friends.)

I don’t believe there is a harder time frame in life than middle school. Your body is changing faster than you can comprehend with things growing from places you don’t want to talk or think about and hormones flooding your system faster than IV drugs. Your mind can’t keep up with your heart and no matter how much deodorant you use you still smell funny. That’s the part I’m dreading for my girl. That and the catty girls and the boys who will break her heart. You may experience harder times due to life circumstances…and I certainly have, but on a whole, middle school, for no other reason than being middle school, stinks.

But I’m also praying for the best parts of middle school. I praying for slumber parties with Dr. Pepper and Doritos and friends who can fart the alphabet. (What? You didn’t have one of those friends? I’m sad for you.) I’m hoping for dances with pretty dresses and girlfriends giggling in a corner. I’m looking forward to novels and movies that make her world view larger. I can’t wait to see what she learns and how she matures. I know I’m going to love the young woman God is molding her to be because the girl she is now is really pretty awesome.

So I guess I’m praying a lot these days. I’m praying that God protects her heart from all the ugly and the hurt that can come with this stage but I’m also praying that when, not if, she gets her heart broken by friends/boys/teachers/etc. that God uses it to teach her how to love others well. I’m praying she see’s enough bad in the world to be cautious and know it’s there but that she can be a beacon of light in the darkest of places. I’m praying for more smiles than pimples and more laughter than tears, knowing there will be a mixture of all. I’m praying for friends who not only know Jesus but love him. And I’m praying that I can hold her tight when she needs me but that I will know when to let her fly.