I know it's only Monday night, but since we have to leave early in the morning and I don't trust hotel internet, here's the post for Tuesday. And you can log in comments with only your name and you can leave the URL blank for those that are still having trouble. Maybe that will work.)
We're in Carrollton, Ga for our third, and final, college orientation. First orientation, five years ago, we took notes and asked questions. This time we find ourselves merely nodding and moseying from session to session. We still wonder how our youngest will fare and try to imagine this beautiful campus as her new home, but we are definitely more relaxed.
Heard an analogy today that is good for this time we're in with our recent graduate. The presenter put a picture of a trapeze artist on the screen. The high-flying performer was letting go of one swinging handle and jumping to the next.
The presenter said the one handle represented childhood and the next one represented adulthood. Our children she pointed out are in the middle. "Notice," she said, "your child has to completely let go of the childhood bar in order to reach and swing on the adulthood handle. And that is our goal."
For our children to keep even a small hold on childhood means they can't fully take advantage of being an adult. They'll be stuck, just hanging in the middle.
What I love about this analogy is no one is denying the scary part - that open, bottomless middle. It's there and to ignore it doesn't help our kids. And yet how exhilarating to see them grab that adult handle and start their lives as young adults.
Scary. Exciting.
And we only get a seat in the audience.
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