Those of you who know me well know that I am caught between a rock and a hard place while I watch time fly by as we move inexorably closer to "the big one."
You know ... the BIG one.
The day she graduates from high school. The day she goes away to college. The day my day-to-day childrearing comes to an end.
Color me freaked out.
I know I have played this tune before and I still have another 2 1/2 years to go, but something happened on Saturday that made me realize just how close it is.
The Roo-girl took the PSAT.
This is the beginning of the beginning. The preliminary step toward the college applications. The first baby step toward the first day of the rest of her life.
MY BAYBEEEE!!!!
The taking of the exam ("The longest test I ever took in my whole life!!!!!") prompted some conversation about where she wants to go to school.
The answer?
Out of state.
Why?
Because she wants the experience of going away before she returns to the fold.
"I love California, Mom," she told me. "I will always come back here."
Whew!
Janet, I sympathize. my baby is a high school seniro this year -- going off to college in september, just like her older sister did 2 years ago. hard to think the day-to-day parenting is coming to an end.
Posted by: songbird | October 19, 2009 at 09:54 AM
Until she meets Mr. Right and moves to Maine. :)
It seems to me that girls tend to come back home, or close to home, whereas the boys... See ya!! Enjoy the next couple of years, and good luck slowing them down, I swear Andy was just learning how to drive and now he's almost through a semester of college! Yikes.
Posted by: Roger | October 19, 2009 at 10:33 AM
Sometimes I lay awake at night dreading that day. And sometimes I look at my husband and think "soon it will just be him and me", and I think I need to run away from home. How'd we end up here? They were babies, only yesterday.
Posted by: Candy | October 19, 2009 at 11:05 AM
Wow - already! I'm only a year behind you ...... that's sad.
Posted by: Beckie | October 19, 2009 at 11:44 AM
My youngest is a college freshman this year. But he's only about 25 miles away so it's relatively easy to see him once in a while. Of course, his ambition is to live in Japan, so I guess we gotta visit while the visiting is good.
Posted by: lceel | October 19, 2009 at 01:06 PM
My oldest is just starting preteen. I'm ready to say good-bye and he hasn't even started high school.
Posted by: Nicole | October 19, 2009 at 01:21 PM
My fear for my youngest isn't that he'll leave -- I fear he won't. But that's a whole post in itself.
Posted by: Daisy | October 19, 2009 at 06:56 PM
Wow, you ARE handling this well! Can you put conditions on the school, like it needs to be within an hour of a MAJOR airport? LOL
Posted by: Suzanne | October 20, 2009 at 01:23 AM