Well it is official, I am the mother of a teenager.  I’m not sure what happened over the last 13 years, how this day came around so fast.  It honestly feels like only yesterday that I was pregnant with my first beautiful baby and now she is 13!  

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To celebrate her birth milestone, Miss 13 in true teenage fashion, shot down every party and celebration idea I gave her. In the end she decided on a shopping trip with all her friends to spend her birthday money. So I also convinced her to have a little family celebration at the park so we could sing and give her gifts and generally make a fuss.

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She reluctantly agreed however her reluctance completely disappeared when the word cheesecake was used! It’s amazing what I can get that child to do for a slice of cheesecake. 

Anyway, we decided on a BBQ at the park. Friends and family could all come and the little kids could all play on the toys. I love having Birthday parties at the park, you go, you eat, you play, you throw everything in the bin and you  get to go home to a clean house, it’s fantastic and if you are really lucky there is left over cake!

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So, Miss 13’s birthday finally arrived, as we had seen most of the family over easter we only had a few people coming to celebrate.  Due to work schedules we decided to hit the park at around 3pm on a Sunday afternoon and have the bbq for dinner. All well and good if no one else is planning the same thing, unfortunately, they were.

Upon arriving at the park we were greeted with a rather large dilemma. It was full.  I had not thought this through and my only back up was to return home and take everyone with us, this was not the plan, I had planned on keeping all the mess out of my house. So with some strategic loitering and a quick dash we were able to steal a small table.

This was not going to be nearly enough room for everyone, but it was going to have to do.  Then when I thought it could not possibly get any worse, it started to rain. It was a miracle, as I stood there getting  peeved that the entire afternoon was ruined, all the other people started to pack up and leave. Within 10 minutes we had more than enough room, tables and chairs all undercover and right next to a bbq.

So we turned on the barbie and threw down some bags of chips and dip and settled in for the evening. Despite the rain coming and going in small amounts it really was rather nice. The cool breeze had cooled the park down, it had been rather hot when we arrived and the rain had chased away all the other people which made it super easy to keep and eye on all my kiddies.

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After a couple of hours of playing and eating, it was time for cake. Miss 13 has a love for cheesecake, something I find fascinating as she doesn’t actually like cheese. So many years ago she asked me for a marble cheesecake for her birthday, I couldn’t get her one that year so I decided that being 13 is a special birthday, I ordered her the best marble cheesecake ever.

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Needless to say it was a hit and I may have to continue the cheesecake tradition for Miss 13’s future birthdays.  Although it was not the party I had wanted for her 13th, the next day she got to go shopping and have a lovely lunch with her friends, which is all she wanted. 

Learning to let go and accepting that your babies are not babies anymore is definitely very difficult.  The days of making all her decisions and choices are over.  Although I still get to make the rules it has become very obvious that Miss 13 does not always need me, it is sad and exciting all at the same time.

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She is definitely a smart, strong, kind, compassionate, loving and beautiful young lady. I won the lottery with her. She is perfect.

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Thank you all for reading.

@mumofmany