You never know what’s lurking behind closed doors.

The other day, I was going around the house collecting laundry. Avi is out of town, at the beach with a friend, and since I’m such a “nice” Mommy, I went into her closet to get her laundry. I opened the door, and was astonished when a ridiculous quantity of dirty clothes spilled out. It was like a mountain of laundry. It caught me off guard, especially since she isn’t even here to make dirty clothes.

I was perplexed, confused, and befuddled.

But further inspection revealed it wasn’t Avi’s laundry that was spilling out. Nope. Guess whose it was? It was Zoe’s dirty clothing.

Yep.

That little sneak!

During exams, she’d completely trashed her room, our dining room where she likes to study, and taken the majority of our dishes hostage. I’d been laid back and relaxed about it. I’d given her a break. After all, she was studying, and I didn’t want to mess up her rhythm. Who am I to cause more stress during exam time?

But after exams, she’d promised to clean it all up. In fact, we agreed she could go out of town with a group of friends, as long as her laundry was done, put away, and her room clean.

I seriously felt like I was risking my health to go into her room.

But she’d cleaned it, we inspected it, and she’d gone on her trip. We were even financial supporters of this little excursion.

But we were had. Taken. Manipulated. All by our teenage daughter.

Shocking, right?

What she really did, was stuff all of her things into Avi’s closet, and then pretended it was all done.

NOT COOL.

What do you think I did, after discovering this:

1. Pulled out all the clothes, dumped them onto her bed, and disarmed the wifi in the house.

2. Felt sorry for her, after all, she did have exams.

3. Locked her in her room, tossed out the key, and gone to the beach.

I’ll never tell, but I promise it was legal, justifiable, and hopefully, she won’t do it again.

I also had to laugh! If that’s the worst thing she ever does, we’re getting off pretty easy.

Find meaning each day,

Dara