Teenagers are difficult!

I hadn't heard from my mentee in a few weeks, and was starting to worry. We'd been generally good at making time to meet on a weekly basis - and then, suddenly radio silence. I'd left her a few voicemails, I'd dropped her an email, I'd spoken to the staff in her residence so I knew she was well, but hadn't heard a peep in response. Was it just me?

The disconcerting bit was, I'd been fairly sure she liked me and enjoyed the time we spent together, so I simply couldn't reconcile this reticence with my perception of our relationship.

"Don't stress yourself over it," Delta advised me, "she's a teenager. She probably just not in the mood. Give her time, and she'll reach out to you when she's ready."
I knew he was right, that I should just be patient, but damn, I wished she'd just call!
"And besides," he added, "don't forget this is about her, and her needs, not yours. She's entitled to be unpredictable if she wants to, you should just make sure you're there for her when she needs you."
Touche. Sometimes it's remarkably easy to lose oneself in the mental quagmire of personal insecurities, to lose track of the original objective itself. I knew he was right, and I just had to learn to not take this personally.

Then on Friday afternoon, I wandered down to the Farmer's Market at Union Square to buy some homemade banana bread. I was just about to pull up my collar against the wind and head homewards when it occured to me that my mentee worked just around the corner, and would very likely be there right then. Could I go meet her at work? Would that be like stalking her? Would that be overkill?

Oh I should quit double-guessing myself and just go, I thought, so I wandered towards the store where she worked, and had barely just entered when I bumped flat into her.
"Oh, hello!!!" She was understandably surprised.
"Hello." I was just unprepared. I was about to launch into a lengthy and ineloquent explanation of what I was doing there, when she suddenly reached out and grabbed my arm.
"I'm so glad you came by, I've been meaning to call you!"
"You've been well?" I was having a hard time reconciling her warmth and earnestness with the fact that she hadn't returned my voicemails for two weeks.
"I've had a rotten two weeks from hell, but I'm much better now. I want to tell you all about it, when are you free to meet?!"
So we set up to meet later in the week. I was about to leave, when she grabbed my arm again. "Ficali?"
"Yeah?"
"I'm really glad you came over. Thanks."
"Sure thing." I gave her a hug and told her I'd call her later in the week.

Well I'm glad that's back on track again. I guess Delta's right, as a teenager it's her prerogative to be unpredictable :)