POST by JED: Girls Just Wanna Have Fun!

It’s happening, they’re growing up! Well it was just yesterday that I was holding them in my arms, promising the World, goo-ing and gah-ing, welcoming the visitors, chatting with the midwives, and timidly shopping for women’s products. (and mistakenly selecting a male shop assistant from behind, whom I thought was a woman on account of the long hair, to assist me in selecting the correct women´s products. Anyone else would just let the poor chap go, but not me – nooooo! I fought through my embarrassment and rambled on about regularity, consistency and flow… All the while we’re both standing there, together – UNITED, looking like two grandiose idiots…) 

Those were the days… Exciting, fun, moments in time that I thought would never end.

Enter from stage right, two teenage daughters.

Our Church life now consists of visiting our local Chuch (a Pentecostal AOG) 4 times per week. Services are in the evenings on Tuesdays and Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays. There´s also a matinee on Sunday morning, but we don´t go to that one. The services are HOT and LOOOONG! (minimum 2 hours, maximum 4 hours) 

The building is concrete and the parishioners decorate the front of the building with gaudy maroon fabric and fake flowers. Moto-taxis (half motorbike, half rickshaw) burl past the Church building and we, trapped inside, become covered with layer upon layer of dust. 

The raucous, extroverted, bubbly pianist (think of the larger nun from Sister Act, then take her voice down a couple of octaves and make her Latina) always waits for the singers to start, before touching the piano. Whence they´re too far into the song to change keys, she starts pounding on her instrument and belting out her own melodies. (though it just occurred to me now that she might think they´re harmonies) 

However, it´s all for the glory of God, and so I wouldn´t change one single thing. (Except the fake flowers!)

Our sons come to Church and humbly sit in the front row. Sezni plays the drums and although bewildered at first, he now has gained some confidence. (Hence the clashing of the symbols at the end of the pastor´s reverent prayer. It’s funny as I write, but in the moment it is not. The congregation looks on with wide eyed anticipation.  “What´s he going to do next?”, I imagine them to be thinking…) 

By the end of the service, without fail, Raf has fallen asleep, Billy is at his wits end, and Sez has entered yet another dimension of lunacy. (His eyes are usually set heavenwards and a half smile is sitting upon his face…)

The girls however, are on fire! Both have expressed a desire to be baptised and without coercion from us, their parents. In our Church services Francesca and Lorenzy sit and listen attentively. They understand the sermons and can explain them to us. (translating the messages from Spanish into English)  The girls push us to be on time for every meeting, and for those of you who know us well, you‘ll know what kind of a challenge that represents! 

The girls want to go to EVERY group, be at each event, and participate in all activities. It’s exhausting! But we love their hearts and so we soldier on!

However, a new dynamic in our lives is the sudden interest in our girls by members of the opposite sex. BOYS! Francesca and Lorenzy are quite comfortable relating to boys and so we’re grateful that they’re not all giddy and stupid like some girls can be. But the amount of attention that the girls are confronted with, especially due to the lack of teenage girls in our Church, and because of the girls’ lighter complexion and fairer hair, is daunting. 

There are now close to twenty boys in our Church, whereas a few months ago there were two.

So what does a Dad of daughters do? All kinds of moronic things that either make the girls blush or shame them. I remember a time when my father was the “loser” and now that title belongs to me! (Though it is enjoyable to say the least. A new era of carefree abandon, without pressure to be cool or  say clever things. Doing my hair is now optional and the warts on my feet no longer hold me back.) 

I say things that get me into trouble. I do things that don´t make sense. I know that I´m not acting the way I should, but I am compelled to make a fool of myself for one reason or another!

Some examples? I hear you ask…

Well, a boy was standing by the pool chatting with my darling dear, Lorenzy. I walked along, not wanting them to stand to close to each other, and without prior thought I said “woops” and hip-to-hipped the dude so that he went FLYING into the water. Only thing was, the kid couldn´t swim! (Very typical for rural Nicaraguans) 

So Lorenzy was left with no other option but to dive into the pool and save the kid´s life. Eeeeek… Thank Heavens she was able to get to him before resuscitation was required.

Then on another occasion… The lights went out during the middle of a service. I was looking around, eyeing the youth, trying to work out who was who amongst the shadows. And then I spot them. A boy has put his arm around Francesca! 

As father of the girl child, I must respond in a timely manner. I leave the safety of the front row, as Raffy sleeps on, and race to sit between Francesca and this boy, who might or might not make it home alive this evening. There is a time of intense waiting. What shall I say? What shall I do? Should I ask to have a chat with him, or talk to Francesca first? I still haven´t decided upon my game plan when the lights come on again. To my horror, neither of the people sitting beside me are Francesca! In fact they´re a young couple, who already have a baby of their own! Francesca is sitting behind me, laughing at yet another embarrassing moment with her Dad, the moment of mistaken identity.

And so we keep trusting the Lord. He has brought us this far, in spite of ourselves, and he will lead us on. We do what we can, we trust in him, we learn to laugh at ourselves and we love. We continue to love, unconditionally, come what may…