If you are not the parent of a teenager....this might not make much sense to you, but we all used to be teens so maybe it will anyway. About a year ago my 14 year old daughter decided that she would start wearing make-up. I told her it was ok.....but don't go overboard. She started out innocently enough with a little of this and that. I wanted to help, but she would have none of that. So anyway...as time passed her hand got heavier and she started to look scary. One day I woke up to a daughter I didn't recognize with raccoon eyes and a scowl on her face.
I smiled, "Honey...don't you think the eye liner is a little thick?" She glared at me as though I had insulted her purposely. "No mom, this is the way all my friends wear it." was her excuse. Then came the red hair and the haircut that swept in front of her face covering one eye. Thank goodness she let me use the semi-permanent dye on her hair so it washes out in 30 days.
I asked her to cut back on the eye-liner, but she said it just didn't look good unless it was noticeable. Noticeable? That was an understatement. You couldn't notice anything else. Everything else faded away......we could only see "Emo girl".
So....I finally just let it go because A.) She had to wear a uniform to school anyway, so I figured if the school was ok with it then I would not worry so much. B.) It had to be a phase she would grow out of soon or later. and C.) Eventually she would run out of the liner because she used so much of it.
Months went by and Christmas came. We always take family photos at Christmas and I asked her to wear less eyeliner for the photos. She didn't. I tried to photo shop it off but it just looked weird to me. She has a boyfriend, or at least that is what she calls him. They only see each other at school. I told her she doesn't have a boyfriend because she isn't allowed until she is 16. She rolled her eyes.
She spends a lot of time in the basement. (That is where she and her 3 sisters live.) I call it the dungeon, even though it doesn't resemble a dungeon at all. It is just the place where they all go and disappear. She has spent more time down there than the rest though and so I have started calling her "dungeon girl". She pops upstairs to get bread and water and then goes back down to the dungeon. When I first called her "dungeon girl" she tried to hide the laughter under her breath....
About two weeks ago I saw her without make-up on and said, "Oh, there you are! It's been so long since I've seen you. This other girl came and took your place for a while and she wasn't as wonderful as you are." I gave her a hug. She looked at me like I was an alien. Then she burst out in laughter. "I didn't like that Emo girl.",I insisted. She indignantly rebutted, "I'm not Emo!" We all burst out in laughter because her sister informed me that anyone who adamantly denies being Emo is Emo. For those of you who don't know what Emo means......well your guess is as good as mine. They all have on dark eye-liner and wear their hair in their face.
I challenged her to wear her eye-liner lighter and see what her boyfriend says. She said, "He won't like it! He'll think I look weird." "Just try it one day." I coaxed her. I told her I thought he would like it and to see if she could prove me wrong by trying it. So she did. She came home that afternoon. "Mom, you were right. He said I looked really good." OMG.....did she actually tell me I was RIGHT? It was a glorious day. That's why I just had to tell you about it.
Emo girl is gone.....and I was RIGHT......what could be better! **SIGH**
