Step on the brakes!
Your baby has made it all the way to his last year of school. This is the year you have been working
toward, the culmination of all those years of trudging through his childhood,
buying that mountain of school supplies every August just to find out that by
October he was all out, buying school clothes sometimes several times a year
because he just Would. Not. Stop. Growing.
Not to mention those endless nights of homework, after school practice,
ball games, and the myriad other activities that keep parents on the road seven
nights a week. What happened to not
scheduling activities on church nights?
Here you are, in the last year of her school life,
navigating cap and gown orders, graduation invitations, and senior pictures. She likely has her driver’s license so you
don’t have to be the driver any more.
Your angst at getting in the car again for another trip to school has
been replaced by the worry that she will be in an accident in her own car or
yours. You don’t know all her friends
any more, much less their parents. You
have to trust her to make her own decisions, because that, after all, is what
you raised her to do. She doesn’t need
you as much now, or possibly she needs you more, if only in the background as
she tries her wings.
Brake and brake often.
Savor these last few months of their childhood. After graduation they may leave your nest for
good, like my oldest child did. As I
happily celebrated his graduation and helped him prepare to move to an
apartment and go to college 100 miles away, I forgot to brake. I forgot to hold on. It’s been fifteen years and he has never come
back, except for visits that are way too short.
|
My son and his friends gathered around our dining table. He's in the white shorts and blue shirt.
|
I was fortunate enough to teach in the same high school he
attended, and one of my fondest memories is watching him coming down the hall
with his friends to greet me with their own unique salutation. They were full of youth and energy and they
made me laugh. How forlorn the halls
were the next year without Matt and his friends.
I recall the many nights when he and his friends would crowd
around our dining room table talking and laughing. I never thought I would have enough food for
them all, but they managed to entertain themselves and get their fill of
snacks.
|
Hubby and daughter Natalie on her graduation trip to Pensacola Beach
|
These times, though often making for worrisome late nights, were short-lived. Far too soon he was gone, finished college,
married, and now has a child of his own.
No regrets, only the knowledge that I didn’t realize how much more I
should have savored each moment. My
daughter graduated a few years later, a year early in fact, and it still felt
like a whirlwind. Natalie and her
friends were fun as well, but soon they scattered as life has them do, leaving
me with an empty nest but a heart full of wonderful memories.
So hang on, mamas and daddies of high school seniors. It’s a fast and furious year, and it takes no
prisoners.
XOXO
Labels: high school, school parent, senior year