Daughter

Does this mean my daughter is on the Do Not Fly List?

Our daughter is a freshman at a mid-west university. She came home for her spring break because she knows we miss her so much we will pay for new shoes, spring clothes, hair cut (and color correction from an impulse hair color box purchase) , eye appointment, meals and Target.

But who knew an 87 minute flight home would start off with her being surrounded by 6 TSA agents in this mid-west city’s airport? Our daughter was in the security line …fidgeting because she was without her cell phone for 37 seconds and didn’t know what to do with her hands! She noticed her backpack was pulled from the conveyor and re-scanned, but she thought nothing of it. She recalled that she assumed her shampoo must have exceeded the 2.7234 allowable ounces. She was then asked to step aside and was immediately surrounded by a half dozen TSA agents. She was asked to hand over her boarding pass and her I.D.

Two of the female TSA agents pull the banned weapon from her bag and applauded her for having it. My daughter explained that she knew what it was, why she had it and told the agents her mom (don’t implicate me in this) purchased not one but two of these after the instructor from a self defense class in Denver suggested this for the girls (she also told the girls it would be confiscated at the domestic and international airports). Yes, I know this is a huge run-on sentence and probably another 1/2 dozen grammar infractions.

kubatan

Oops! We forgot about that reminder! Our daughter was calm until the TSA agents told her they have to send copies of her ID and boarding pass to the Department of Homeland Security. She immediately burst into tears with thoughts of being on a no fly list, being denied acceptance to graduate schools and uncertain employment options (she is my daughter). She was told a copy of the warning would be mailed to us (presumably so I can post on Facebook and frame it)! Of course, with the sequester I may not even get a hard copy mailed to me!

Any guesses what she forgot to take out of her backpack? It wasn’t mace, nail files, nail polish remover …. it was a Kubatan (Google it)!

Click HERE to go to the website where I purchased the weapons.

I told her this story will be a great blog post! Thanks sweetie!

I am Not Ready

Reposted after my WordPress migration:

My daughter drove to school this morning, taking her last final for the semester. She is a junior in high school. She is a great girl who happens to have what I would have envied when I was in high school (brains, beauty, an athlete and a strong inner confidence). She is also in the downward slide to leaving for college. Sniff. Sniff.

We host our an annual mother-daughter ornament exchange tonight. I stayed up until after midnight making cupcakes and peppermint frosting. I have cleaned, stashed, mopped, and prepped for tonight. And, yet my heart aches, slightly. An ache, a reminder that my (our) daughter is slowly, preparing herself to leave for college.

We don’t see her as much this year. She has a heavy course load (her decision), a very, very part time job, a wonderful circle of friends and a Calculus tutor! We have dinner together as a family most nights and the nights she lingers around the table, are little treasures. My husband and I are giddy when she chooses to spend a few more minutes interacting with her brothers, trading jabs, giving us a smidgen of details for her weekend plans, an update on her AP classes, or maybe a little gossip floating around the school!

She is my first born; my only daughter. We are different in many ways. I am loud and chatty; she is quiet, observant, and not into drama. She is a beautiful girl who doesn’t have time for boys and would much rather meet a friend at Starbucks. (Okay, I never would have done this.. maybe meet at 7-11 for a Slurpee). She is confident and doesn’t need to be the center of attention. She lives her faith with respect and acceptance of others She is kind.

I know our job is to raise our children and give them the skills and confidence to go off into the world and make their footprint on this earth. I love you sweetie.
Now, go nail that Calculus final!