Letting go is hard
Why Won’t My Daughter Carry a Purse? Adventures in Micromanagement
Even a trash bag would be fine at this point
In a recurring dream, my daughter looks out onto the Capitol building. She has just been elected the 53rd President of the United States. She looks smart and radiant and self-assured. She needs a quick swipe of lipstick before she steps into history. “I don’t have any lipstick Mom.”
“Well, get some out of your purse.”
“I don’t have a purse.”
“What? Where do you keep your stuff? The key card to the White House? Your inauguration speech?”
She dips her manicured hand into the pocket of her De La Renta ball gown and pulls out a crumpled Post-it with her inauguration speech scrawled on it. Two red Skittles are stuck to the back. She eats one as the remainder clatters to the floor. I clutch my chest and then I wake up.
The story begins decades earlier, with a headstrong little girl who doesn’t really care what people think, not even me. When I tried to teach her about womanhood, at least as I knew it, one of the central tenants was the carrying of a purse. I patiently explained that the purse is a fundamental building block of life. It is the container where one prepares for all…
