Iowa Part 2

I really didn’t mean to make you wait this long for the second installment of our Iowa trip. Let’s just say it’s been a pretty crummy week and you wouldn’t have wanted to hear from me before now anyway. :)

So, here’s the back story…

Alexi has always been pretty firm that she didn’t want to do any serious dating in High School. The girl has goals and a clear plan of what she needs to do to complete them. She wants to be a surgeon, and she knows she’s going to be in school for quite awhile longer, so why make it more difficult than it needs to be?

She hangs out with a large group of friends comprised of both guys and girls, and she’s watched her friends do the dating thing. We talk about it a lot, and to be honest (no offense kids) the High School dating thing is pretty silly, full of a lot of drama and very little reward. So watching the tableau has pretty much cemented Alexi’s decision not to date seriously for awhile.

Then in walks friend Paul…

Paul and Alexi hung out in the same group for a year or two, they were good friends and that was about the extent of it until last spring when they both realized at about the same time that there was something more than friendship going on there. The only problem with the whole thing was that at the end of the year Paul was moving to Iowa.

Well now doesn’t that put a crimp in the whole love story?

So they decided to continue to be just friends, keeping in touch with each other using the phone and internet as best they could. Frankly, everyone observing figured that, like most kids who move away from each other at that age, the friendship would just fade away. The funny thing is though, it didn’t. Instead it seemed to grow stronger.

You would have thought I’d have learned by now not to expect my kid to act normal.

A year passes, Paul is a senior in high school, Alexi’s a junior, and they still talk almost every day. They decided to drop the whole friendship façade awhile back, and now will officially tell you that they are indeed dating. Paul’s senior prom is coming up, and there’s a little bit of drama associated with it. Not a lot, but enough to make it clear that Alexi’s not entirely happy with the situation. So John asks her, “Do you want to go? Does he want you to go?”

The answer was a resounding YES across the board.

So the next thing you know we’re in the car making the long trip to Iowa... I’m going to stop here because at this point in the telling I can usually see that whomever I’m talking to thinks we’re off our rockers insane. We’re not, well not completely anyway. I’ll admit to not having a complete set of marbles, but there is a reason behind this particular insanity.

Alexi is a good kid, and I’m not talking the mother speak here. You know the code: Jane’s a good kid, I just wish she’d get better grades. Or: Joe’s a good kid, I just wish he’d call me when he’s going to be late. No, in this case Alexi is a good kid, end of sentence.

Permit me to brag for a moment. Since the fourth grade Alexi has been on the honor roll every quarter without fail, and most quarters she scores well enough to be on the high honor roll. During her sophomore year she was inducted into the National Honor Society, and this year she was approved for the National Merit Scholarship. She was the only one in her class to qualify for the last.

Alexi is very open and honest with me about what’s going on in her life, and what she’s thinking and feeling. She frequently discusses problems with me and (surprise) actually listens to, and respects, the advice I give her. She doesn’t hide stuff from me because she understands that losing my trust would hurt us both. She’s responsible in that when she tells me she’s going somewhere and/or doing something she does just that. If her plans change she calls and lets me know; even though many times she could have let it go and I would have been none the wiser.

Alexi is a trust worthy, responsible young lady. End of story.

Well, not quite the end because we’re in the car heading to Iowa. John and I decided that a weekend trip to reward her for her constant good behavior, which would also serve as a birthday present, would go a long way towards showing her how much we love her and also that we respect and understand her feelings.

So she went to the prom with the guy who calls her his sunshine, and from here I’ll just let the pictures speak for themselves…

Hugs,