Our twins slept from 8pm till 5:30am this morning.  Awesome.

Did we sleep those hours?

Nope.

Were we working?  Writing?  Cleaning?  Watching a movie?

Nope.

We were taking yet another course called Middler-schooler 101—How To NOT Have the Best Time Ever from 8pm on.

LOL.

Over the last few days, weeks, or has it been months, our almost 13-year-old has been, uh, pushing limits.

My friends say, “You know how it was when you were that age…you know how you were when you were that age,” and the problem is, I don’t.

I never pushed the limits like our almost 13-year-old is–quite developmentally appropriately, I might add.

Frankly, “the stick” was too big in our household for limit pushing.

And so girl, I didn’t push.

I was home on time.  I did what I said I’d do.  I respected my parents.  I spoke the truth.

Now I am learning that this was totally whacked.

LOL.

I, in fact, never truly went through my teen years.

Or as the developmental psychology books define them.

Perhaps that’s why I feel age is irrelevant and feel like a big kid. 

Which is a good thing.

Or that’s how I prefer to look at it.

So back to Madison…where to begin?

There was the time that she went to the movies, telling us confidently and clearly that she had a ride home with so and so’s parents (with whom we are friends) and so we told her that we were going to sleep early with the twins (when they went to sleep), and so we gave her a house key and off she went.

I awoke the next morning to…no Madison.

She wasn’t home.

I took my Iphone off the charger and read in my texts that she had texted me at 10:30 pm (“Mommy, can I sleep at so and so’s?”) and at 11:30 pm (“Mommy, can I pllleeeeease sleep at so and so’s?”) and at 1:00 am (“Mommy, I’m sleeping at so and so’s.  I’ll see you in the morning!  I made you a present!”).

O. M. G.

I was stunned.

I had totally and completely trusted that she’s go to the movies, and come home.

I had gone to sleep “knowing” that.

The thought had never crossed my mind to stay up and “make sure” she came home.

Ah, yes, now the memories of the “parents of teenagers,” sleep deprived because they stayed up all night waiting for their sons or daughters to come home.

So THIS is what they were talking about.

Then there was the time that she didn’t show up for the family photo shoot that we’d scheduled a month prior—around HER busy schedule.

2:30 shoot.

2:30:  No Madison:  I texted and called her.

2:45:  No Madison:  I texted and called her, and her friends.

3:15:  No Madison:  I called her friend’s parents.

She finally called me after a friend of mine called his daughter and asked Madison to call me from her phone (“Mom!  My phone battery was dead so I couldn’t call/didn’t get your messages….”) and promised to be home in time for her 3:30 ride to her softball game.

Oh and there was the time when she asked for “10 dollars for our French project.”

“Ten dollars?  Really?” I asked, thinking that was a bit steep for a project.

“Yeah, ten.”

Philippe called the school and they were supposed to bring in two dollars.

“Why’d ya lie, hon?” I asked Madison that afternoon after school.

“Why didn’t you just ask me to borrow money to go out to lunch and ice cream?”

“I didn’t lie,” she insisted, and went on to explain in her tween-ish way how what she said was the truth.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

What planet am I living on?

LOL.

I explained to my sweet daughter that I don’t want to ground her.  I don’t want to live a cliché.  I want to sail through these years with her with joy and ease.

I asked her if we could do this differently.  Play the script out in our own way.  And make it come out well, and easy.

It was then that I came up with my version of “grounding.”

“You need to practice yoga at least twice a week,” I said.  “If you had been grounded—connected with your center, with your true self–none of these things would’ve gone down.”

I explained to her that when you’re in the vortex, nothing bad ever happens.

“You haven’t been practicing because you’ve been “too busy,” and so now you’re going to start again.  And then you’ll see—everything will shift back to balance and integrity.  You’ve lost your center.”

“So I just have to practice?” Madison asked incredulously.

“Practice and work at the restaurant once a week.  You need to understand the value of money as well.”

And that was it.

For now. 

On our morning walk with Dianne this week I spilled Taylor’s Green Lemonade from PRANA on my Iphone.

Mental note:  don’t put Iphone, green lemonade, and water in the same stroller tray while walking on a bumpy road.

We resumed the walk after I dried it off (apparently not well enough—lol) and when we arrived home, I noticed that my Iphone wasn’t working.

Onto the Internet my 12-year-old went, finding ways for me to dry it out.
We surrounded it in uncooked rice for a day.

No dice.
I asked friends on Facebook what to do.

Goji suggested that I dehydrate it.

In it went and on the dehydrator went—for the first time since we opened PRANA on September 4, 2009—both because we’ve been eating food from PRANA exclusively and while pregnant with the twins, I couldn’t stand the smell of ANYTHING, even dehydrated.

I had a suspicion that it wasn’t going to dry out—that it would never work right again; yet, still, I had hope.
But the hope didn’t feel connected with the dehydrator and all things dry (LOL).

Yet HOPE was present, in my entire being.
I went with it—went with the feeling, or rather, the ESSENCE of the feeling and I saw a vision of me walking into the Apple Store and the energy being very positive.  I saw a student of PRANA, who runs the Apple Store, walking up to me, hugging me, and asking me about my Iphone.  I saw her giving me a new phone with a smile and me giving her yummy food from PRANA and yoga to boot.  I saw harmony and ease.  And relief and gratitude.

This vision came to me several times and finally, after 3 days without an Iphone, I drove to the Apple Store.
As I walked in, I felt a surge of positive energy.  I asked the woman scheduling the “geniuses” if so and so was there (I’m protecting her privacy), and she said she was sorry but she’d just left for a break.

I smiled and thanked her, knowing she hadn’t.  As I turned around, my student was walking up to me, arms open, and we hugged.

She said, “You spilled green juice on your Iphone?”

Although I’d seen this played out many times in my mind’s eye, I was nevertheless stunned.
“How did you know that?” I asked incredulously.

“My partner read it on facebook.”

Huge LOL!

I laughed, and everything felt somewhat surreal as I heard her saying “I’ll swap it out, Taylor.”
“What does that mean?” I asked.

“I’ll give you a new one.” She explained.
Relief, joy, and gratitude filled my entire being.
“THANK YOU SO MUCH!” I exclaimed.
As she scooted into the back of the Apple store to get my brand new Iphone without delay, I recalled years back when I taught her yoga and talked with her partner and her about raw food after class.   They were interested and open and curious.  I recalled that she emailed me a few times after our talk of raw food, asking me other (excellent) questions.  I was happy to answer them and help her on her raw path.

And here she was, years later, helping me on my path spreading the light (which my Iphone plays a part in, no doubt).

So you see, what you put out always comes back to you, especially when you’re spreading the light.
Sometimes it’s not evident at the time–how and when it’ll come back.

But, my Sisters, it’s comin’ back.