Back to School ... Dropping Ellis Off at College

 It's been fourteen years

but I can still go back like it was yesterday.....

It's nearing back to school here

my boys head back to

high school

next week.......

So I am in a reflective

back to school mode.

I still remember sending

Ellis
 my eldest
off to
kindergarten
for the first day....

It had been a whole summer of
anxious anticipation

making me want
to hold on tighter...

but knowing
I had to begin
letting  go...

so  Ellis
could begin
finding her way

 happily

in her new
world.....

Last summer ....


it was kindergarten
all over again

for both of us.....
as we readied her for her
college departure

We spent the summer again...

in anxious anticipation....

to help us both stay busy

we worked much of the summer
to take

this
empty, barren
dorm space to....

this....

a beautiful, nurturing, cozy, safe

dorm space

her new home...

in her new world....

a closet

fully organized

so she could always put her

best foot forward.....

Being able 

to drive away.....

and know I had done 

everything 

I could for her

made it better

because

just like when she left for kindergarten

I knew 

I had to let her go

so she could once again

discover

her new world....

letting go....

the hardest

necessary

part of parenting.......

may you savor each day

of holding on

and
 letting go .

wishing you a successful 

and loving

back to school

season.

t