Navigating Junior Year with Grace (Mostly)

I have said before and will say again I hit the teenage daughter jackpot. Molly is a generally a joy to have around. She takes on lots of interesting activities and does them well. She is well-rounded and even-keeled.

She ran cross-country again this fall, and though she enjoyed it and did well, it was not the amazing season of last year. The team was A LOT bigger this year (lots of girls switched from other sports) and lost the "we're all one big happy family" feel. Moll's good friends were still there though.  While she was faster than most girls on her team, she fell one or two spots short of varsity. It was a bit tough for her, though she barely let on.

She learned, however, that in the wider world of adult sport extending beyond high school, she is a very good runner. She came in 5th place overall in a women's 5k, 1st in her age category. I think that it was valuable for her to gain perspective; I hope she is inspired to stay fit and active beyond her young sports years.

Good grades are a constant battle in this school district, but she managed to get herself inducted into the Honor & Service Society this fall. Violin has also fallen a few pegs on the priority list, and she hasn't been able to quite pinpoint the cause. She just isn't as in love as she once was. I suspect it has something to do with not getting to play pieces she is in love with. She spent months preparing for a super hard audition piece for the All South Jersey Orchestra, and we weren't sure she was prepared enough to snag a spot. But she did. She was really pleased about that.

We are starting the college hunt with official visits. Ok, that's all I can say about that right now because I am still trying to exist in a "Molly's not going away soon" bubble.

Molly's true love at the moment is Madrigals, the singing group she belongs to. Christmas is their busy time of year - 20ish gigs between Thanksgiving and Christmas. And she eats up every minute of it. We went to a holiday dinner concert where they performed last night and it was so nice. It is fun to be part of something you can be proud of, and Molly loves the sense of belonging that develops in these kind of groups.

And as a nod to the miraculous, she gave blood this week. When Molly was an infant, she received 6 blood transfusions she would not have been able to live without. I think it's just amazing that at 16 she's donating hers! Which is a reminder that she had a pretty good chance of not even living, let alone being able to use those lungs that were in soggy, miserable shape to sing and run. And her brain could've easily had damaging bleeding, but didn't; she get good grades and learns complicated violin concertos.

Grace is the word that comes to mind.