Sometimes I am so strong. I run towards hard stuff. I bite of big chunks. I have gotten through things that seemed impossible.

If you need a refresher on what changes your kid is or will be going through, start here.

When you’re ready and wondering, come look for a slice of yourself in me. There’s plenty to share.

I can’t run his race with him. But I understand. For all of our differences, we do have this. This, we will always share.

The allure of mommy solitude is not enough for me to ignore the sound. I reach for the iPhone.

My pre-teen daughter has just begun to experiment with make-up. I watch with slight dismay.

I need you Preteen Ballerina, to keep dancing. I need you to show my daughters that a ballerina can be curvy, strong and imperfect. I need you to help me change things.

And that’s when everything clicked for me up there on that snow-covered beast of a mountain and I realized – Hey, you know what? I can do hard things.

The first day of his last year in high school. The first of many lasts is my immediate future. He jumped up ready to tackle it, even if I wasn’t.