Baby Steps

This week I had my apron strings forcibly cut….or rather…snipped a bit. My ten year old daughter and the rest of the fifth graders at her elementary school departed for a week of camp nearly two hours away from home. Fifth grade camp in our town is a right of passage, an event that the kids begin counting down to right around third grade. Since I hadn’t ever really been away from my daughter for more than a couple of nights-her always being in the care of family-this was a hard fact to swallow. I busied myself these last few weeks trying to make sure she had everything that “the list” required-boots, outer wear, a truckload of socks, toiletries, etc. It wasn’t until packing day that I started to feel the uneasiness creeping in. I managed to make it to traveling day, reminding myself that many of these kids had already done these types of trips-be it with church groups, scouts, summer camps, whatever. I also had to remind myself that she was having no problems at all with leaving. She’d been jabbering about it for months and was obviously giddy with anticipation. The morning of, I plastered on a smile and loaded the luggage into the car to drive her to school. When the time came for her to board the bus she hugged me and I told her to have fun. Then she and her best friend joined the rest of their class to climb aboard. The bus doors closed and she grinned and waved madly as the bus pulled out of the school parking lot. I give myself credit for not crumbling right then and there, or worse, throwing myself down in front of the bus to stop them. I mean seriously!! Was I really going to let them take my daughter two hours away for an entire week without any communication with her?! Was I going to put her safety in the hands of teachers and camp counselors who hadn’t known her and cared for her all her life? The answer was yes. And as the bus pulled away it dawned on me that the right of passage wasn’t only for her…it was mine to share. Years seem to fly by like days anymore. It seems like just yesterday she was born and tomorrow she will leave for college. This is the first little step which will be proceeded by sending her off to junior high, then high school, college, marriage. In the whole scheme of things our children are only here under our wings for a brief moment. If we didn’t have these “baby steps” to letting go, who knows if we would ever let them leave. Okay, who am I kidding? Eventually we would let them leave, perhaps forcibly if necessary. So I grin and bear it and count down the days until she returns. Then I can breath a sigh of relief until my next daughter climbs aboard that fifth grade camp bus and the apron strings are once again slightly clipped.

Quote of the Day-"How did it get so late so soon? Its night before its afternoon. December is here before its June. My goodness how the time has flewn. How did it get so late so soon?”-Dr. Seuss