I am raising a liberal* minded teenager. The asterisk of this blog is the clear recognition that this is coming from the perception of a white, recovering evangelical Christian from Texas. My oldest is a free thinking, progressive, people loving girl who would tell you that she expects a protest arrest to be a part of her college experience. She is passionate and knowledgable. She is well read and a thinker. I love these things about her and yet I am constantly trying to give her perspective on the world that is a bit more broad than her 15 years might allow for. She does not back away from a hard conversation. Nothing is ever off limits.
She is being raised by a passionate, politically aware and involved mom. Add to this a church family that places a high value on loving all and serving the world and you set up the blueprint for exposure to many people, places, things and ideas.
I love this about our family. I love this about our community. The only down side is that it has created in her heart big, big dreams. Dreams that I fully recognize may take her away from the safe, guarded confines of our home. When we teach our kids to serve others and fight for justice, we have to prepare ourselves that they may see an oppressed people group and want to be a part of liberation.
This is where I find myself today. My girl is dreaming. She is talking to people from different backgrounds and paths. She is listening to people's stories that are not like her own and this excites her. Today, I watched her eyes light up when she heard about interfaith experiences and mental health advocacy on a college campus. I saw the wheels turn when she was presented with the challenge of a big scary demand and she didn't shy away, she set a goal.
Her last request before leaving San Francisco today was to go to Haight Ashbury. As I walked approximately 10 blocks by her side, I saw the world though her eyes. We were walking the same streets where 50 years earlier her grandparent's generation had stood for love in a way that most of the world could not understand. All these years later, my 15 year old was seeing this broken world though her eyes and she was not afraid. We saw a drug deal. We saw a young man rolling his joint on a window frame. We saw countless mentally ill homeless teens and adults. She never once winced. She didn't look away. She saw people with stories. She came up and put her arm though mine at one point and said, "I want to walk with you so I can hear more about the history of this area." And then she went into a record store and bought the soundtrack of The Breakfast Club.
We have encouraged this independent thinking. We have conspired to open doors. We have shared our own journeys (highs and lows) with great passion and now she is itching to make her own path. So, we will have to let her go. We have to allow success and failure. We will encourage and let her dream. We have to help her be realistic. We have moved from caregiver to coach. The parenting journey is amazing. The parenting journey is hard. But much like I said in an earlier post, when we see them becoming young adults that we would want to be friends with...well, I think that is about as good as it gets.
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