Letting Your Senior Go

Why don't they tell you when you birth these children not to blink! That's all it seemed was one blink and she's leaving me already. Seems just like yesterday she was spending countless hours outside hunting frogs and anything else she could get her hands on. My neighbor used to joke and say he could never bury his wife in the back of our houses because my little Crocodile Dundee will dig her up. Haha, guess you had to be there. Every spring and summer, walking around with her bucket, saving lives, one frog at a time. She was always so tiny, but so fearless. Infact she had some lettering on her bedroom wall that read "Small in size but destined for big things". What an understatement. Now being an official high school graduate and "I'm an adult now attitude" in full effect, we start the preparation for college (insert lots of tears here). How could this be? The school of choice is 5 hours away How can I drop my baby off in the middle of farm country, and just leave her for months? This will be the first time she won't be home for a birthday. Her 18th birthday. What if she gets sick, or gets lost, or, or, just needs her mom!? How do 20 million parents/kids survive this madness every year!? As hard as it's going to be, ultimately this is going to be an amazing experience. She wants to take it on, just like she took on the frogs and snakes of the world when she was 5. How can you hold your child back when the sky's the limit, and worse, she knows it! So why stop now. I can't make this about me, she's got the world by the tail, so I must let her run with it. I will take a deep breath, and just watch as she goes. I still have a few months to prepare myself for this transition, oh boy. I know in my heart of hearts that this will give her many things in life. Independence, confidence, strength, opportunity, responsibility and so much more! Seeing the sparkle in her eye and her face light up when she talks about going away to college and the independence she will soon have, brings happiness to my heart. Afterall, that is our end goal as parents, right?

#Senior #Graduate #CollegeBound #EmptyNest #LettingGo