Letting Them Go

I'm not sure if it is harder to see one's child go off to Preschool or off to Life.

As next weekend approaches, and the time for my son to leave us for his life with his wife, my heart perches on the edge of tears constantly. I can't help it. It just comes, and at odd moments when you really are not expecting it. I am hoping that when Saturday arrives, I will have it together. I am hoping that there will be only smiles and good wishes and exhilaration at the thought of all the new and exciting things they will explore together.

But a child starts and grows inside of you. You care for it when it isn't even an "it" yet. You give it a name. And then it comes out from you and into the world, and it becomes a little girl or a little boy with your eyes or your hair or your smile or your temperament. The years pass and he grows into himself; still keeping some of what you are inside of him, but branching out into his own self. You know it is coming, the day when the proverbial umbilical must be cut, and he must live on his own as an adult, making his own family, keeping their own traditions.

You know you have a storehouse of memories to keep you. To fill the void that is made upon his last wave goodbye as he leaves your driveway. You know he is excited to make his own journey, his own stamp on the world. You are excited for him.

But the tears...how can you stop them from coming as your child is going?