The Graduate

My very first time living in LA was when I came to live with Laila and her mom while her dad and Mack went to do Hurricane Katrina clean up. She had just started kindergarten, and when I came to live with her, she was still wearing sandals. It was November. 

She started getting a cough and her teacher gave orders that Laila was to start wearing socks and shoes. I was the designated enforcer, and I thought it would be a simple enough task to convince a 5-year-old that socks were amazing. And then I learned how hard parenting really is and that I didn't want to do it.

Laila was hilarious back then, coming up with expressions that have become a part of my daily vocabulary and central to our family dynamic even five years later. She's grown about 20 inches since kindergarten and officially passed up her mom in height and shoe size this year. She's a chatter box of preteen girl, and she chooses apps for her iPhone by searching "annoying" and "talking" in the App Store. She sometimes chews with her mouth open, and sometimes she is so beautiful you can't resist touching her face. 

Laila is 11 years old now, and she is officially done with elementary school. I am completely baffled as to how that is possible.