•••274 The Explosive ChildPerhaps you’re wondering what happened to Jennifer,
star of the waffle episode, which is where we started
eleven chapters ago. She’s working as a nanny to a one-
year-old child while she figures out what she wants to do
next. Does she still get pretty frustrated sometimes? Yes.
Does she still explode? No.
“I used to spend so much energy being upset. Then I
realized it wasn’t doing me any good,” she said recently.
“Now if I get upset about something, a lot of times I’ll
just stop for a second and ask myself if being upset is go-
ing to make things any better. I’ve learned I have a pretty
obsessive personality. If I’m upset about something, I can
spend a lot of time thinking about it, so I try to do things
that will take my mind off what I’m upset about.”
Jennifer’s mother often reflects on the road she and
her daughter have traveled together.
“I want people who have a child like Jennifer to know
that there is light at the end of the tunnel. The road isn’t
always easy—even today—but things are far better than
we ever thought possible. Jennifer often thanks us for
not giving up on her.
“I did have to come to grips with the fact that I didn’t
get the child I hoped for. And I had to have different pri-
orities for Jennifer. Some things that I thought mattered
a lot really didn’t matter at all... not in the scheme of