A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To Forever

I have become much smarter since The Girl moved away to school in another city.

It's actually quite amazing. I didn't feel myself gaining in intelligence. I didn't study to have more brain power. I was not hit with the proverbial bolt of smart lightning.

And yet here I am, a gazillion points above where I was on the scale a mere two months ago.

Two months ago I was naught but a blithering idiot, according to The Girl. Whenever I gave what I considered to be sage advice, eyes would roll and her head would shake. If I dared to venture an opinion on boyfriend/clothes/food/weather/the situation in the Mideast I was pooh-poohed, shoved aside and ignored. If I made a joke at the dinner table, both The Girl and The Boy would look at each other, sigh, then tell me it was useless for me to try to be funny, so please stop. Now.

But a funny thing happened on the way to the college.

The Girl started to call home for MY advice. And she LISTENED to what I had to say.

At first I thought she must have taken ill. Surely this was some sort of virus, some contagious disease the students were passing around. But no, she felt just fine.

And then it happened on the weekends when she was home. Take this weekend, for example.

She and I went up to the local Starbucks and had a conversation. About life, school, what she should do about certain problems she had, her future, and the world in general. And not once did she roll her eyes. Not one time.

She listened to what I had to say as if it mattered. She treated me as if I was a person. A real, live person. A friend, even.

I think I like this whole growing up business. It has definite potential as far as my children are involved.

Now, if only I could get The Boy interested...