For Dear Life

She needs us

I pour myself some coffee, sitting at the kitchen counter, I've spent the whole night thinking about what happened, thinking about how we got here, how did I not see that something was different with my daughter, that she was changing and....having sex.
Trying to understand how could I had missed such an important step of her life, and mostly why did she not feel comfortable enough to talk to me and tell me about it. I haven't spoken to Brad since yesterday, trying to give him the time to process everything, actually trying to process it myself.

"Morning"

"Good Morning" Mey gets downstairs for the first time today, looking absolutely ashamed and sad, breaking my heart as this is the last thing I want to feel as much as I'm mad and upset about everything.

"Well you slept late today, want some breakfast?"

"No thanks, I was just gonna get a bottle of Snapple...I'm not really hungry" She avoids looking at me, grabbing what she needs before heading back upstairs.

"Mey, sit down"

"Mom I'm fine I promise, I'm-"

"Sit. down."

She sighs then sits down, staring at her bottle without saying a word. "Okay...Look uhm, you are gonna take a shower, get dressed, and you and I are gonna go out. I'm gonna get ready too, annnd, we're gonna have a brunch and talk"

"...Alright"

I make a reservation for us then go get ready and wait for Leyah's nanny to get here while I'm playing with her in the living room.

"What are you gonna do today baby? Go to the park with Dana?"

"Yesss we pway at pawk, mama I see dada today?"

"Yess you'll get to see your dada tonight. Dada's coming home"

"It ready, you eat" she shoves her plastic egg in my mouth, making me taste the most amazing meal she's made.

"Mhmm that is so good baby, you're the best cook ever!"

"Fank you mama"

"You're so very welcome bunny" We play for a couple more minutes until the nanny gets here, then Mey and I leave for the restaurant.

I send a text message to Brad, to check on him and see how he's doing since we haven't spoken much since yesterday.

We both sit at the table as she can barely look at me. She has that guilty face, the same face she had when she was a toddler and Brad and I would catch her doing something bad. This all reminds me of how little she still is, she's still a kid who just did something wrong.

"Honey look at me"

She looks up, taking a deep breath in the process.

Writer's POV

"Sex...Sex is not bad Mey. It's not a bad thing to do, in fact it is the most natural thing BUT...only when it's done with someone that cares about you a lot and that you care about AND when you're both able to assume all the consequences that come with it, cause yeah there are consequences."

She pulls Mey closer to her as they're both facing each other, then takes both her hands.

"It's not just the fact that you could get pregnant, there are so many things to take into consideration like STD's, AIDS...your consent and not just because you want to please someone because you think you love him or he loves you..."

As she says this tears are forming in her eyes,

"You are one of the most interesting, intelligent, beautiful young girls I've ever met Mey, and I'm lucky enough to be able to say that I made you and that you're my daughter. You and your sister are the most precious thing to your father and I, no matter what, so it breaks our heart to see you doing something that you might regret later...you're just 13 baby...13...you have your whole life to have sex and have fun, believe you me..."