The day I kissed my firstborn son and drove off the college campus, leaving him and his favorite Michael Jordan poster behind, was a day I always dreaded.
You have these humans, pour into their life, and then in the cruelest irony, you’re asked to let them go.
But what they don’t tell you is that to do it, you will let a part of yourself go, too.
I know the emotional state you’re likely in reading this post, celebrating your graduate, loving your kid the way you do and not feeling ready to send them off into the world or use words like letting go. I want to send you a cyber hug, give you a look of understanding, and tell you a few encouraging things I wish I had known about sending my kid off to college last year.
All the letting go won’t be bad.
In fact, some of it will be monumentally good. You won’t see this on move-in day, so don’t even look for it. It will come as a surprise guest some days, maybe months after, when you least expect the company. You will be minding your own business when it shows up and reminds you of that fun thing you did together on that trip, when you made him run around the house 5 times to get out all his energy when he got in trouble, when he said words like you’re the best mom, ever, and they were the sweetest words you ever heard. It is then you’ll realize you can love from afar while letting go of daily control and expectation and yes, even the ache from not feeling the arms around the neck everyday will be okay because you grow in your strength from sweet memory and distance.
Turns out, both you and your kid will do some growing up when they go off to college. This, my friend, is a good thing.
My son has been gone for a year and now he’s back for the summer. I wish someone had told me this time last year that I would truly be okay. Isn’t that what we all want to know? That yes, it will hurt, and yes, we will cry, but we will be okay. So I’m going to tell you. You will be okay. In fact, you will be so okay that your kid will come back for breaks and you will ask yourself questions like did she always make this much noise? and when does he go back to school? This will shock you as much as the first time you held them and fell in love. I wish someone would have told me this was perfectly normal.
