Ugh, teenagers!

 

So, she's nearly 16 and last Friday night she decided to take a walk on the wild side.  She was out with friends and temptation took hold.  She is fine, no one was hurt, but now comes the path to recovery. 

Recovering from a bad decision.  I speak of my darling God-daughter who I would do anything for and her brief encounter with bad choices and consequences.

She is a fabulous kid.  Get's good grades (usually), stays out of trouble (most of the time), doesn't smart back (who am I kidding?) and drop dead gorgeous (true true true).

And now we, as a Villiage, take the steps to help her recover from bad decisions that we all made.  Teach her that choices are important at this age - that we were that age once too and guess what, we all survived.  She is open and receptive to feedback as long as it doesn't come from her parents so I step up and try to talk to her without sounding like a parent and I try to listen, without freaking out.  In my eyes this beautiful girl is flawless until she makes a mistake and then my heart hurts.

She is a teenager in angst - she is struggling with things we all struggled with and now, she has to work through it.  My only goal now is to "be there" for her and help her through the next steps.  She is strong, she can do it!