Too Soon

Margaret was folding clothes, music blasting in her ears. Humming softly to the music, Margaret was lost in her own world. Even though she was enjoying in her own little bubble of bliss, she was a mother. No matter how hard one tried, one could never hide anything from their mother, at least not for a long time.

Margaret tried to stay cool and let nothing bother her, but a certain feeling was gnawing at her. And after she yanked the earphones out of her ears, she realized that curiosity was bubbling inside of her. Margaret was curious to know why her teen daughter, Lisa, had locked her bedroom door when her friend came over. Margaret wondered if Lisa’s friend, Taylor, was a bad influence on her daughter, wondered if she was forcing her daughter to try something, she was not comfortable with. But Margaret was a cool mother, she couldn’t just kick the door down. So, she did the obvious thing.

She bent down and peeped through the keyhole.

A wave of guilt passed over Margaret since she was violating her daughter’s privacy. But she convinced herself that if she had endured the pain of pushing her dear daughter out of her vagina to bring her into her world, she figured she had the right to violate her privacy just a tiny bit. After all, it was only because she was worried about her.

Steeling herself for whatever horrors may lie on the other side of the door, Margaret narrowed her right eye, focusing her vision through the peephole. When the vision of the room behind the door became clearer before her eye, Margaret felt confused. Her daughter and her friend were simply sitting, looking at one another. But as Margaret lingered for a little longer, she noticed her daughter’s fingers inching closer to her friend’s, wanting to intertwine them with Taylor’s. She saw the look in her daughter’s eyes as she looked at her friend.

And Margaret knew that her daughter’s heart was in trouble.

As she continued to look through the peephole, Margaret also saw the look of heartbreak and sadness flash across her daughter’s face when Taylor drew herself back when Lisa leaned in to kiss her. Not wanting to spy any longer, Margaret went back to folding the clothes. Margaret had a frown looming over her forehead as she thought back to her baby’s face. Her daughter was clearly upset because of the rejection. It simply broke Margaret’s heart.

But what Margaret didn’t see was how brave her daughter was when her first crush rejected her, so blatantly. She didn’t see how her daughter blinked back the tears and let out a small smile towards her friend, apologizing for the misunderstanding. Margaret didn’t see Lisa close her eyes when they shared a hug, cherishing Taylor’s arms around her. What Margaret didn’t see was the strong daughter that she had raised all by herself. Margaret didn’t see herself in her daughter as she picked up her broken pieces only to try to love again. Margaret didn’t see that her daughter would be alright.

Margaret just moved away from the peephole too soon.