The great sage Dr. Seuss teaches not to cry because it's over, but be happy because it happened. Excellent advice which I generally attempt to heed. I wonder, though, if Dr. Seuss ever dropped his kids off at college.
Yesterday, Denise, Emily and I finished a month or so trek through The Wonder Years, courtesy of Netflix. As the final episode reached it's climax, I melted into my spot on the couch, joyful, frightened, hopeful, nostalgic undeniable tears streaming down my cheeks. And, not merely because I wondered how we'd now fill our time or because I think The Wonder Years is the best tv show ever (I do like it). But, because I realized this was one more signpost that this season of our lives was coming to an end.
The past year has been loaded with 'lasts.' Last first day of school. Last marching band performance. Last band concert. Last Christmas Em would live at home. Last time I'd pack Em's lunch for school. Em's last night at Journey (our youth group). Last family vacation with our 'children' (when we do it again, they will be full fledged adults). Last, last, last.
And, yesterday, last tv series we'd plough through together. We've enjoyed doing the same with Lost, Friends, Star Trek, The Big Bang Theory, etc. through the wonders of the interwebs and borrowed dvd's. Don't judge us :) Some families play board games. We devour tv series, discussing favorite characters, singing along with theme songs, sharing snacks and generally using the show as an excuse to hang out together for hours on end.
It's not like we haven't done this before. Four years ago, we drove to Nashville to move Caleb into Belmont for his freshman year. We're not rookies. That doesn't seem to make it much easier.
I don't doubt for one second that Em is going to love Pitt. And, Denise and I are very much looking forward to seeing what's next for our journey together. But, before my eaglet leaves the nest and we completely turn what is proving to be a fairly heavy page, I think I'd like to take one last, long, gaze at it.
About five minutes after originally posting this, I saw the following quote from Bob Goff on Facebook:
'Make these pages in your life the ones you'll want to dog ear; God's that good and you're that ready.'
Nice!
As usual you words eloquent and to the rub of it. I watch Rowan growing up too fast and wondering about where he is going and all those little things that he will and does teach me... cause that's what a kid does.
ReplyDeleteNice post.
Gavion E. Chandler~