Today Emily turns fourteen (well when I started this a couple of weeks ago it was today). The obvious place to start is 'Holy crap I can't believe my little girl is turning fourteen!' So there, that's that bit of it out of the way.
Last year Emily, because she was being driven to school by Sam, embarked on what seemed like a quest to get involved in as many sporting and other extra curricular activities as she could. It was partly a case of 'if I'm going to be at school early/late then I may as well be doing something' but I think there was also an aspect of just enjoying getting to do a myriad of different things.
This year there was a fair bit of debate over the summer about just which activities she was going take on. Fortunately it seems to have been pared back somewhat from the initial list. Summer saw her join the Sturt Softball club which has given us something to do on a Saturday afternoon. She's done reasonably well, though seems to have a penchant for pulling up a bit lame. It's always a tough call as a parent when you can't really tell exactly how much pain is involved. Is it a 'toughen up princess' moment, or one where there's actually a genuine injury concern. I bit my tongue on the toughen up line and she managed to get through the season. The team ended up winning their grand final, so that was a great start to her club softball career. Now there's talk of club netball which will prove interesting at a time when we're finally seeing the back of multiple school sport commitments on a Saturday morning.
Emily has maintained an interest in anime and it was never so apparent as when we were traipsing around Japan. It was almost a concern as to how much she knew about the characters that were on display in the large number of shops selling anime memorabilia. Combine that with her love of fan-fiction and she's pretty self-sufficient when it comes to entertainment, even if it means that she spends a significant amount of time on the couch.
Emily is certainly never short of an opinion and isn't shy about letting you know what it is. At least we can be sure that when she wants to be heard she isn't about to back away from letting people know what's going on, especially when it comes to what she likes to eat. That particular list isn't quite as long (or healthy) as we might like, but at least we can be sure that when she doesn't like something we're not going to die wondering.
We're very proud of the young woman that Emily is becoming, even if with her being the last of the kids, we might be a little happier if it took her a little longer to get there. I think Emily lives in hope of another growth spurt, even if it's just enough to reach a height that exceeds her mother. We're looking forward to another year of celebrating achievements with her and watching her grow (and just maybe, providing a bit of well-timed guidance here and there).
