Letting Go...

This summer Lyn and I had to "let go" of our daughter Lindsay. She graduated from high school, and though she prepared for college well, she decided to do a gap year and is spending a year in Switzerland as an au pair. She took four years of French in high school and wanted to become fluent. So, she'll have her chance...As we got close to the day of her departure (someone reminded me that the day she left, July 4, was "Independence Day"...) it was all I could do to put one foot in front of the other...I tried to think what this was like...about the only thing I could compare it to was losing my parents. My dad died 9/11/2000...and my mom passed away in November of '03...both losses were difficult. Again, at times in the days leading up to their deaths, it was all I could do to put one foot in front of the other...it was as though I knew a difficult day was coming...it was bound to come, but it was tough...In many ways, Lyn and I grieved the letting go...after all, you raise a child, a child you love deeply, unconditionally, for what...so they can stay home forever? No...so they can fly, soar and become the person they were meant to be. And for that to happen we had to do what? Let go...and in some ways, do more than let go...send...set her "free"...Even in the short two and a half months she's been gone, Lindsay has "soared" - she's gotten lost...and then found her way...(her first day of French class...). Had she been here, a call on the cell phone and we'd have bailed her out...there, she had to sort it out...she's made new friends, traveled, interacted with all sorts of people. Without us...We want to hold on to the things we cherish...sometimes letting go brings stuff we can't imagine...we know that now, even though it was so hard...and I'm sure we'll face times again where we'll try to hold on but need to let go...From the original cutting of the cord to this cutting of the cord...parenting is a continual process of letting go...when we let go, kids grow as they're meant to...and so do parents!