Serious girl time

This is where it starts to pay off, having a daughter just emerging into teenhood who has turned out to be so totally wonderful I don't see how I could have had a hand in it. Yesterday was her last day of school and, as is our tradition, she and I had a "girl's day" together. This included spa stuff (manicure and pedicure for her, a 30-minute reflexology massage for me that left me all melted), lunch at Nordstrom's, some shopping, and "The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants", then dinner. Whew! But she's worked really hard all year, done a complete turnaround in her schoolwork, and came out with straight A's, so she deserved a treat. Now, I know grades aren't all they're cracked up to be, but just the sheer diligence and interest in her schoolwork is the real measure of what she's gained. The Sisterhood movie left me with some tears and some smiles (and a very strong yearning to see Greece again) -- it's a great mother/daughter kind of movie, and Kidlet adores the books. In fact, it's a sign of how she's matured that she was critical of the movie for not sticking as closely to the books as it should. She's always been a very film/TV oriented kid, and this is the first time she's preferred a book to the movie version. She's coming along.