Pressure Keeper

If I could check my blood pressure I know that it would be high right now...dangerously so. I can feel my heart beat pressing against my rib cage. My chest is tight and a burning sensation is spreading its way through my torso. Before you rush to make a 911 call let me assure you I am not having a heart attack. I am merely having a reaction to a preteen. I don't know what it is with children...the innocent little beings us mothers birth. We care for them; we love them; we nourish them; we want them; we delight in every little thing they do...and all of this before they are even born! And then-WHAMO! They get in your face and talk back to you and roll their eyes at you. WHY?! Why do they do this?! Why can't they just pleasantly exist...doing all that they are asked to do? I know I always did. And maybe that is the real problem here...I was just too good of a kid. Honestly I never felt that I needed to buck the system. I am still that way today. Could it be so simple as to say that she and I are wired differently? There are times when I am secretly glad that she is so strong willed and tough. I know it will benefit her in many ways as she gets older. I just wish she would understand that I am on her side...really.