The First Time She Said "I Hate You"

October 23, 2011: The first time my daughter said, "I hate you."

Somehow I made it until second grade, seven and a half years without hearing those words. I knew it was coming, the closer she got to tweendom, the faster and harder the attitude came, and these past few months have spawned a love of pop music and a need to wear fashionable shoes, and I knew it was coming.

Today she and a neighbor friend got in a fight, and I said the friend couldn't stay for dinner. Even though I'd said she...