It's too early for the handcuffs

Among the sentences I thought I'd never hear Captain Reed utter to his daughter is this one: "Honey come here and let me take a look at your handcuffs."

A. I don't think she wants to be a cop. B. I'm sure I don't want her to be a stripper and C. She hasn't yet read (I think) 50 Shades of Grey.

So you can imagine my suprise when I heard him convey that message to her the other day.

He had spent the evening with Ali and Jenna while I was at Bunco. They both had new earrings, courtesy of Alison's Claire's gift card from Auntie Jen. But on the way home, Jenna had lost part of one hers.

As we prepared to go to battle Claire's for a refund the next morning, Jeff found the missing starburst and was fixing Jenna's broken earring. He'd called out to Alison, preparing to take preventative measures on her new earrings.

Happily, I'd seen them and knew they had tiny handcuffs at the ends of them. So she doesn't really have handcuffs. Yet.

I'm a little melancholy as I finish this entry. It's the last day of Alison's Christmas break and the 2013 work year shifts into high gear tomorrow. I think I'm ready for it. I have some ideas, some plans and great hopes for incredible PR mastery.

But it's been nice having more time with Alison. She's getting more and more interested in her own private time. She still skips on her way down the hall our across the drive. She still hugs and snuggles. But she's growing up, and it's killing me.

Plus I read my Book Club book today -- "My Name is Mary Sutter." It's a great book but it reminds that no matter how hard I've worked to acheive my little corner of comfort in the world, previous generations ( and millions of people in this and other countries) have had/are currently having horrific struggles.

I'm so fortunate it's unnerving.

I wonder what I'd do if faced with true hardship. I'd like to think I'd be brave and do the right thing, no matter the cost. No sure that I would, though.

I hope with all my being that Alison never has to face any of the stuff I've faced down. On the other hand, I want her to be a good, solid person with a good work ethic and real compassion.

Can you be all that without experiencing some hard times yourself?

Answers, please.