a birthday for lauren, a strange day for me

today is lauren's 19th birthday.  and it has been such a strange day.  a strange week.

if she had been home, we would have woken her up by singing "happy birthday" while she was still in bed.  and we would have had "birthday cereal" for breakfast (i was one of those moms who never bought the fun, sugary kinds of cereal for their kids, but on their birthday, i let them choose whatever cereal they wanted. Captain Crunch or Fruit Loops would usually win out.)

but she was in her bunk bed in the dormitory in santa barbara this morning when we all got up.  and the cereal i bought her monday (she is coming home this weekend) was opened by impatient family members monday night and is already halfway gone.  "we'll just get her a new box!" they assure me. 

i  got a call back from lornie a few evenings ago.  this is what she said:

"mom, i have the funniest story to tell you.  but you're not going to think it's funny, because you're a mom." 

  what am i supposed to do with that?  what can i do but just wait for the story to follow without letting my imagination run wild?  and so she proceeds to tell me, 

"shea (her roommate) and i were play-fighting in the hallway, and i got shea in a headlock, and then she tried to drop kick me, and we both fell down and hit our heads really hard on the floor.  we just laid there for awhile because it hurt so bad, and then my RA made me go to the health center to get checked out, and after asking me a lot of questions and making me do all these tests, they told me i have a minor concussion.  isn't that hilarious?"

goodness!  i'm glad that at least she knows that because i'm a mom i wouldn't think it was funny. i spent the next hour researching concussions on the internet, wondering if i should drive up and spend the night with her, waking her up every two hours all night long.  i felt sick as i read about brains being bruised as they bang against skulls.  it wasn't until a few hours later that we found out that the "fight" had happened the day before, and she had already survived her first night.  she hadn't thought to let us know the day it happened.  it only dawned on her to tell us after it was over and she had put it in the "funny stories" category in her mind.

anyways, we called/texted her several times today, on her birthday.  (though 19, though away at college, though thoroughly independent in her mind, she is our daughter, after all.)

she is having a great day.  last night, her friends threw her a party at midnight--the official start of her actual birth day.  she had sushi with her roommates tonight, and tomorrow night, she and her roommate, whose birthday is also this weekend, have planned a photo scavenger hunt party for themselves, and have invited 50 people.

so it's her birthday.  she told me today that she only has a very slight headache.  "nothing a little advil can't handle," she says.  she is out celebrating right now, somewhere.  and as i sit here on the couch in my mismatched pajamas, tessa sits across from me eating a bowl of captain crunch.

and i am okay,  i guess.  i guess. i will hug her real hard and kiss her bruised head.  

when she comes home.