Sorry it's been sooo long since I have posted, but it has been a crazy few weeks. We ended up going to Jackson Hole for Raylan's 60th birthday! I got served with new papers from my ex, Dick, on custody of Elle and had to spend many days writing my response, bastard! And today, Little Hart became an official teenager! Yeah!
Little Hart turned 13 today and what was the first order of business? To go down to the bank and open a teen checking account, so that she can have her own ATM card like the other two kids. As we were walking into the bank, I was thinking back to when I turned 21. When the clock struck 12:01 a.m. I immediately walked into 7-11 to buy wine coolers, California Coolers to be exact for all those old enough to remember. Of course they asked for my ID and I was so proud to whip out my license that made it all legal. As I looked at Little Hart I could see that same excitement for this rite of passage. We couldn't go in at 12:01 a.m. as they weren't open until nine, so we got there shortly after. A female personal banker asked how they could help us today and Raylan and I replied simultanesouly, we need to open a checking account for "her" (Little Hart). When it came right down to it, I guess the two of us were pretty excited about this process as well. The woman said an account for the little one? Ok Little Hart is only 4'9", but come on! Seriously! She must not have kids because if so she did she would have known that the "Little One" is more appropriate for say a five year old. So I immediately feel the need to clarify, we're opening a TEEN checking account for our TEENAGE daughter. Raylan of course thinks this is overkill as we were both(personal banker and myself) saying the same thing, but using different words. Uh, I don't think so! Anyway she then hands us off to a male personal banker that feels an incessant need to keep talking non-stop. Finally we get the paperwork. We sign on all the red X's, she makes her first deposit. It's official she's a teen! As we are pulling out of the parking lot, she says well if I ever get accused of murder, I know from all my TV viewing that I can't use my ATM card or phone because they can track you with that stuff. We all laugh and then ask are you planning something? No, but you never know! I guess all those hours Little Hart has logged watching CSI have yielded some useful tools. No?
We then went to breakfast, a movie and dropped her off at Greta's to celebrate with her other family. We usually split the kid's actual birthday day in half, one family gets the morning/mid-afternoon and the other mid-afternoon/evening. We rotate who has the morning or the evening. It was our year to have Little Hart in the evening, but since she has been living with us full time since March and has only spent a handful of nights at Greta's we offered to have Little Hart spend her birthday evening over there. We dropped her off at three o'clock and she seemed excited to embark on another celebration. The good news is that the party will continue since we are having a family party on Saturday with her cousins and Grandparents. So it's really turning out to be a birthday week for Little Hart. Congrats on turning 13, glad I got to be apart of the wild ride to get here! I love you as if I had given birth to you myself!