Passing

I have entered a new phase in life: the phase of adult children (at least one adult child). It is the passing of a torch, complete with celebrations and mournings-a new era complete with new rules. Rachel has graduated from high school, has been 18 for 6 months and is in the midst of her first full-time job. However much I want to hold her down and hold her to me, I must release her to fly out into this big world and make mistakes all her own and experience successes all her own (of course God is always in all things). It is an exhilirating and exhausting time, this letting go. Memories float through my mind at the most random times, reminding me of this precious little girl I had for 18 years. Then new hopes surge past at what an incredible woman she is becoming and how exciting it is going to be to walk with her through the rest of her life-albeit from more of a distance. There really are no words to express all the feelings-you just have to be a parent and have your child graduate or leave for college or join the army or some other rite of passage. It both stinks and smells so sweet.