You know that you're parenting a gifted child when you reassure your teenager that her college friends are probably fine-- and she stays up late worrying about them anyway until she hears from them that they are okay... as they experiment with behaviors that she has no intention of EVER engaging in.

It's a strange, strange world when your 16yo is "Momma" to her 21 year old friends who are experimenting with recreational substance use and experiencing major (and foreseeable) relationship woes. It's like she's their Concigliere; she advises, is on-call, keeps her opinions (mostly) to herself when they are hellbent on self-harm, drives them home when they need it, and offers them tea and sympathy (and ibuprofen or a ride home) the day after.

It's a weird change from the early acceleration days when she was more like a strange pet.



Schrödinger's cat walks into a bar. And doesn't.