The Big Gulp

If this was Jeopardy, that would be the answer to 'What I do everytime I find myself getting choked up".

Which is very often these days. Or maybe the Jeopardy answer would be "Like Living in a Hallmark Card" the winning question being "What's it like getting ready to have your last child graduating and getting ready for college?"

You know the feeling well, don't you?

We've seen the college, attended the family seminar titled "From Parent to Partner" (Yeah, thanks and now I'm all set to step aside and go from mother to pal. Uh huh.)

I'm losing sleep, tossing and turning about how she'll do and how she'll be living OUT THERE. And when I do get to sleep, I'm fraught with bad dreams about the school and the new life and then I wake up overcome with feelings of fear and some sadness. And all the time, in my waking life, I'm telling her how proud I am of her and how happy and excited I am that she's moving on to this next chapter. (I leave out the 'without me' part).

Does this sound too pitiful?? Too self-indulgent? Damn straight. But just for now... I know I can't escape the inevitable and that really, truly it is a GOOD thing... It's just taking a while to adjust to....

And since I'm not the only one going through this, I invite you to share how you're feeling. After all, maybe you're doing just great! Stupendous!! Marvelous!! In which case, you'll be an excellent example for those of us who are, shall we say, struggling a bit. Or a lot.

So, take a big gulp and tell us- how is it for you?