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Health & Fitness

7 Going on 17

Musings on my kids growing up.

I'm not much into the girls' milestones. I mean, I pay attention to them and mark them as significant, but I don't get choked up about first steps, going to kindergarten, or whatever. I figure that they're growing up whether I like it or not, and that it's not worth getting too sentimental about that process. (Plus, I like every stage they reach more than the one that preceded it.)

But once in a while something - usually pretty trivial - leaps out at me and reminds me that they're not just growing up, they're growing up. Today, two such somethings happened. First, I was up at over the noon hour and saw a teenager who reminded me a bit of Julia - her hair color, the shape of her face. The girl had a mouthful of braces, which marked her as probably too young to be an Olaf student. Then I realized that she was probably there for the big campus-visit day, which meant she was probably a prospective student, about 16 or 17 years old. Julia's only 7, but my god, the last 87 months have sped by, and in another 100 months or so, she'll be old enough to be checking out colleges.

Then, tonight, just before bed - at a time when the girls often ask questions or talk about stuff that otherwise never comes up - Julia asked me, "Who's Taylor Swiff?" I needed a moment to think that through, but then told her that Taylor Swift sings songs for teenagers and grownups. Julia said, "Some of the girls in my class like her songs. I'd like to hear her songs, too." So I guess that's a thing now: second graders listen to Taylor Swift. Who knows whom we'll listen to on Julia's college tour in the summer of 2021.

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