Still alive

I'm not really sure if anyone reads this anyone but I seem to occasionally get hits. So maybe somebody wonders.

I am currently trying to become accustomed to being a single parent during the week. Interesting for me since I never gave birth. I was thrown into being a parent to a teenager when I got married. She was living with her mom at the time but she did spend a lot of time with us.

Recently her mom and stepdad decided to move to Huntsville. My stepdaughter was pretty adament about staying in the Spring school district so her mom agreed to let her live with us. Now my husband has been traveling pretty much 100% for the past few months and I am suddenly responsible for taking care of his daughter. She's not a difficult teenager so I feel pretty lucky. However for a person who had been single for 39 years getting married was a rough transition much less having a kid living with me. MUCH LESS taking care of her by myself during the week!

I would say that getting used to sharing my space with other people has been the hardest thing for me. I had roommates in college but that ended in 1992 when I moved to Houston. Between January of that year and sometime around September of 2005, I lived alone except for about a year and a half total when two different friends rented a room from me. And in those situations, no one expected me to clean up after them. They were pretty much self sufficient.

Slowly but surely I'm growing more accustomed to my new life. My stepdaughter really is great... mostly my problem is my own anxiety about wanting to make sure I make the right decisions. She is quite mature for her age so occasionally I forget that she is still only 14 and does need guidance. I am doing fine but I lose sleep sometimes thinking about the issues of a kid entering high school. Most parents get a few years to have to worry about boys, drugs, drinking, etc.

I am aware that I'm not the first person to get married and suddenly have a teenager to deal with. That doesn't necessarily help me sleep any better knowing that I'm not alone. I still have to worry about the other kids that she hangs out with and hope that they are good kids too. I believe we have been lucky so far and I hope that continues.... Until she is about 30! Anyone think I have a shot of that?? Well here's hoping!

Oh... did I mention that she is very cute, has a tiny little figure, and is very popular. I probably won't sleep tonight either!