Home less than 24 hours

Beth finally got home from her trip yesterday afternoon about 3:30. By 10:30 this morning, she was angry enough at me to have killed me. YIKES!

She's been smoking. I've known for quite a while. I'm highly allergic to tobacco smoke and can identify it almost a mile away. I can sure smell it on my daughter who had just showered, walked out the front door, and came back in 5 minutes later reeking of smoke. I've not confronted her about it. She's 18 and can legally smoke.

This morning, she went out to smoke and as soon as she came back in, she picked up Elvis. All I said was, "Please don't hold Elvis right after you've smoked. He's already sick and that can make him worse." She almost threw the poor child at me and ran to her room. She refused to speak to me or reply to my text messages. She started getting ready so I assumed she'd called a friend to come pick her up. I texted her one more time and told her she had to spend 5 minutes with me before she could leave. (I don't know what I could have/would have done if she hadn't but, thank goodness, she did.) I asked her why she was so angry. She didn't know. I asked if she thought Elvis needed to be around the smoke. She said no. She barely spoke to me all and teared up instantly. I was really shocked by all this.

I tried my best to not sound like I was judging her. This is nothing new. I've always kind of known she'd be a smoker, for at least a while. The very first time I ever saw her, she was smoking and she couldn't have been older than 12! Bio mom and dad are smokers. The "cool" kids she hangs out with smoke. I didn't make a single comment about her smoking or my feelings about. I just let her know that the smoke on her clothes could harm Elvis. And, she LOVES Elvis. I knew she wouldn't want to intentionally harm him. I didn't tell her not to smoke. I just asked her to not hold Elvis while she still smelled smokey. (To be fair, she's fully aware of my feelings regarding smoking. She's lived with me over 4 years, she has to be. I didn't, however, direct anything towards her today.)

~Elvis info for the new readers - He was born at 26 weeks gestation and has all the usual ailments of a micro-preemie, including chronic lung disease. On his best days, he's asthmatic. He'll never be anywhere close to "normal" in the respiratory department. We can't undo that damage but we can do our best to avoid doing further damage to his lungs.~

So, she's out. She had settled down a bit before she left. She said she'll be home tonight. I guess we'll see. Geeez. Parenting kids who think they are grown is hard!