Friday, January 01, 2010

Going With the Flow



My daughter left for Richmond, Virginia this morning. She is heading back to her adult life and getting on with whatever comes her way. Every time she comes home, my spirits spike. Every time she leaves, they plummet. This parental reality I will have to get used to. And though I put up the tough guy front, harumph and act cool, I hate seeing my little girl leave her old home to head to her new home.

But she is 26 now. She is done with school. She has the beginnings of a career well started. Safely on the road to mature adult, she shows no fear anymore. As she tightens her grip on the World's short hairs, the more my grip slips.

Certainly this is nothing but the normal and predictable flow of Existence. The standard schedule of Universal events do not waver much in their direction or flow. I am just along for the ride.

5 comments:

Demeur said...

Well you've done your part of the job. Now all you can do is sit back and be proud of her accomplishments. I guess that's what parenting is all about. We can only hope that they will be and do greater things than what we've done in our lives. But yes there is the sadness that the job is over and the bird can fly on her own.

Laura said...

She is a beautiful girl. Such a lovely smile and I can see confidence shining out of her eyes.

You've done good Daddy. She's capable and that is excellent. :D

Don't worry. She'll always be your girl. :)

((Hugs))
Laura

David Barber said...

Mike, you must be some looker under that beard and those glasses... ;-)

I've got two daughters who are going to be putting me through that so you can let me know how easy/hard its going to get for me as they get older.

All the best mate, David.

Freida Bee said...

This pulls at my heartstrings, and I'm easy that way. If I go to a school event of any sort, I end up tearing up from pride. What you're dealing with is that kind of pride on steroids, plus all the missing. Like David, I'm well on my way there with my almost 15 and 17 year-old daughters.

Randal Graves said...

This was a 'fuck, I'm getting old' post, wasn't it.

All you parents are wimps, I never get misty-eyed and wistful.