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Christi Diggs
on May 23 2013 - 06:00 AM
A drop of spin, a cup of deception and tsp. politics=Apathy
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Lindsay Metcalf
on May 22 2013 - 06:00 AM
When that tornado siren sounds, I'm in the basement
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mara williams
on May 21 2013 - 06:00 AM
Summer break has this mom on a house upkeep war path.
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Taylor Anne, room ready and raring to go..
When I opened the front door yesterday to take the dogs out, the front yard looked painfully different. It wasn’t the grass-it was the same crunchy, pretzel-brown, victim of the summer’s wrath. The houses around us had the usual, early-morning, sleepy lull as they always do in the early morning hours.
The difference was the blank space where my daughter’s car usually sits. It was gone, to a place far, far away, sitting in its new, temporary home. Taylor has gone away to college, to a place that seems to be an eternity from here.
A little dramatic I know, since the reality is that she is about an hour and a half drive away from our house. A little longer if you accidentally take the wrong exit and get lost, which I did do on the big move-in day-thank goodness for the calm voices at OnStar. I brought in the rear of the three car caravan on Wednesday morning. Regardless, we arrived bright and early. We had to, she was just so excited.
I stayed and helped her unpack, loaded my car with empty suitcases and broken boxes. We ate lunch together, cafeteria style. I hugged her tight when she said goodbye. It was a wonder I didn’t cry-more like I didn’t let her see me cry.
But I did, on my way there, by myself. On the way home too, with the music loud, emotions raw, sad for me, but loads of happy for her, for who she has become, for what waits for her in the future. Thankful for the smart choices she has made and prayerful that when she does make a wrong one, she will pick herself back up and continue on. Just as I have to continue on, because I have three more humans in my house to bring up, hopefully to follow in her footsteps-maybe not the exact size, shape or path, but close to it.
This is day two without my oldest child here, and the blank spot in the drive isn’t so stinging. She called yesterday, a reminder that it isn’t forever and that she still needs her mom, which I think, is my greatest fear. But no matter how old or far away we are we all need our moms, right?
Tonight, with the great technology of Skype, we will celebrate her younger brother’s twelfth birthday.
I anxiously wait for Parent’s Day, which is only a mere three weeks away.I am listening to her favorite music, and I am saving it where I can find it, in case I need an I-miss-you-Taylor-fix.
There is already a running list of items that I will carefully tuck into care packages, pleasant surprises and reminders of the rowdy bunch she left behind.
It is time for me to look at that empty space where her car once occupied and remember that she is on her journey through adulthood, making her own adventures and stories to share with others.
This mom is going to be alright.
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