Graduation of my Oldest Child

Wow, that day has come and gone and I realize it is something a parent has to experience to understand. I began seeing parents in a total different way. I spoke to one Mom and she said the hardest was her oldest, she has since had one more fly from the nest and had her daughter graduate in 2012 also. She told me she cried as her oldest went off to college, and again with the next and every time they leave. I am sure Mom's all over the world do the same as we come to that year where our child is to go off into the world, or you cry at home wondering if they will ever leave. Either way, it is a different experience, one that I tried as much as possible to prepare myself for. Another Mother expressed the frustration of her husband not listening to her, and I asked her if he was not there, perhaps like me he found his brain at graduation taking it all in, but in another place and time, perhaps the day that child was born and you welcomed them not really understanding the journey that lay ahead, as my brain fast forwarded onto her toddler days, school days, and yes her school days held so many memories of homeschooling I found myself lost in memories of her in a Prairie primer study, the many days of reading stories of learning myself and loving learning right along with here. Parents have a different perspective on this day, each has their own emotions and feelings and memories. I then looked back to my own life of 25 years ago and tried to recall what it was like to be 18 and taking on the world for the first time, what would I be when I grew up, the college journey. The uncertainty of life was hitting my daughter smack in the face and I understood her tears of frustration as her life just seemed to be heading in no direction, nothing was happening. Remembering back it was my Mother that pushed me into a direction by signing me up for college courses. I had tried this route and found myself having to find my daughter a direction she wanted and that was to explore the world first,again I looked back at my life at age 18 and found that I also longed to explore this world, but never got the chance. Once again I found myself dealing with my own emotions knowing that something had to be done soon, in order for peace to once be in my home. Dealing with my husbands emotions of wondering and saying it is time, and getting him to order the plane tickets that would take our daughter far away from us but in the place I know she needs to be to find her direction in life. It's been a journey, and it's a new beginning, a new page in life. I love that kid. Happily joining the parents who understand, kicking a child from the nest. Fly with time!!! Not to soon but fly!!