Separations

A popular blog topic in late August and early September is the beginning of a new school year. Young tots and their moms face their separation fears, maybe for the first time but not for the last. One friend blogged about emotions that surfaced when a child moved away to attend the first year of college. So all of you young moms might as well know that letting go may never get any easier.

I unashamedly admit that I cried every time our daughters drove away and returned to college, whether after a weekend or a longer vacation at home. I never ran down the driveway after them, not once. But through my tears flashed the childhoods they were leaving.

I remember that friends with younger children sometimes asked me how I could bear to let my girls go, how I kept from crying all the time they were gone. My answer was that if I tried to keep them home we would all cry.

Tomorrow I'm flying home after being with one daughter and her family for almost a month.  Tears will fall, but now we share them together.  The next visit never comes soon enough, but it will come.