I KNEW It!!

I have been living with a mental patient.

Which, really, I knew already, but it's nice to be validated. By science, no less.

You see, I recently heard that it seems that not only do our brains "grow" again in adolescence, but they're not even fully developed until we're around 25.

This? Explains a lot. My fellow parents of teenagers and young adults out there are nodding knowingly right about now. Ah, we are one, my friends. I feel your pain.

This? Might be a good argument for me not paying for college. I mean because, ok really - Why would I pay loads of money for a crazy person to be educated? Seems counter intuitive to me. I'm just sayin'.

As I think on all of this, it seems to me that logic would dictate that all this new/bigger gray matter would be ripe for all kids of good and useful things, but I personally think they stuff with useless crap, much like the stacks of clothes, shoes, and accessories in the corners and floors of their bedrooms (which I like to call Look At All The Piles Of Mommy's Money).

But it does make sense to me now why they do things like:

- Refuse to wear coats/jackets when it's cold, but will walk right out the door in 95 degree weather with a black hoodie on.

- The sudden deafness they experience as you speak, standing right in front of them, but they can hear their cell phone vibrate 2 floors away.

- Resist putting anything they own back in the same place consistently, then have a frickin' fit when they can't find it (refer to Look At All The Piles Of Mommy's Money above).

My teenager was once a lovey, huggy, kissy, wanted-to-be-with-me-all-the-time little girl, but around 12 it all started to change. I see glimpses of that kid from time to time, like when I get an out of the blue "Hi Mommy!", when she coos when I scratch her back, or when she allows me to kiss her, lol. She's still in there.

So I say to you, parents of little ones - be greedy with all their unabashed displays of physical affection, and imprint on your brains how their face lights up when they see you. Because there will come a time when it will change, and in their place will be a surly teen, walking out the door in August in a black hoodie.

But I'm hopeful because it sounds like this mental illness is only temporary. Long, aggravating, exhausting, but temporary. In the meantime, this Mommy has plenty of pictures and memories of that little girl to look back on. And wine. Lots of wine. ;-)