My Best Day So Far

This was one of the conversations I had with Jo this weekend....and probably my favorite. Jo: I'm so excited for Christmas. Me: Why? What do you want? Jo: Oh...I don't know. Me: Then why are you so excited? Jo: I don't know...I just am. I actually do know why she is so excited. Other than last year, I feel that same way every October. I am just (wonderfully) surprised that she will admit to feeling that way. Without going into a whole lot of detail I'll just give you a little back story on Jo. When she was about 11 her BFF at the time was having some MAJOR family issues. In turn, said BFF began to resent Mom and Dad with a passion. She in turn helped Jo feel resentful and angry toward her own parents. Everything we did was wrong. Everything we believed was wrong. Everything we didn't do was wrong. She began to turn very dark and very scary. She went so far as to tell me she hated Christmas (something my kids and I have loved since...well...forever). One Christmas she was going to strike out at us and not put up her ornaments. It seemed the only people she wasn't mad at were my Mom and my little sister. It got pretty ugly. I prayed that the BFF would move away and leave us alone. In the end....we ended up moving.....from Idaho to Minnesota. Yeah, be careful what you pray for. It was actually the best thing for all of us in the end. Slowly Jo has come back to the awesome girl she had been. She is no longer the dark and scary girl she was. Instead she is full of light and laughter. Now, don't get me wrong....she is still very much a teenager. But she is the best kind of teen. She is real and really that is all I've ever wanted for her.