Just Write

Danielle Bradbury serenades me with "Heads Carolina, Tales California." My daughter has been on my Pandora again but I don't mind. Delaney is nearly eleven and we seem to be entering the age of sharing things. I have a pair of black crochet Bobs that spend more time on her her feet than mine. I find myself her asking what I should wear or does this top go with these jeans. She'll be going to middle school in the Fall and I wonder how she will fare. She is excited about taking Orchestra and worried about being able to open her locker. Her brother will be ruling the roost as an eighth grader but I don't imagine he will look out for her. He never has before. It makes me sad as she would go to the ends of the earth for others. I wonder what we did wrong and if it is too late. Why doesn't he have that older brother protective instinct? 

She will tower over her classmate as she always has and I wonder how this might change her. Right now she still loves standing out and being taller than all of her classmates and many of her teachers. This is the age when they start separating themselves and where they want nothing more than to blend in and be like their peers. I hope they don't devour her in the hormonal halls of the middle school.