The teenager in my 7-year-old has started kicking in. Often, I find myself making an effort to reduce the conflicts. And out of nowhere, they come anyway. A father once said to me “I gave up trying. I don’t know with what mood she’s going to walk out of her bedroom today.” I feel I’m seeing the snippets of it. I pick my fights and I find I’m left to pick a lot. So picking doesn’t work these days. I was on the phone to my mother the other day. She said, “teach Ada to be more resilient, I worry about her.” I said, “She’s resilient with me alright.” It almost came to me to say to her “I was a good girl, wasn’t I mum?” I stopped. I remembered how resilient I was to my mother. So the chain of resilience continues in generations. Having said that though, the chain doesn’t include my mother. She lost her mother while she was a baby and her step mother would have shown signs of offence if she showed any signs of resilience.

Celebrating life, your loved ones around, eyes on you, like you’re the star. Take the “like” out because you’re the star. One life, one time. And it goes flying fast. I might give in on my resilience perhaps. Hers is too precious.