Trying to Slow the Circles Down

My youngest child, my only daughter, leaves tomorrow for a six month sojourn abroad at Newcastle University  in Newcastle upon Tyne in the United Kingdom.  This is not the first time I have seen here leave for foreign soil. When she was a high school junior, she spent eleven months in Bari, Italy as an exchange student.

Photo by Lisa Sinclair Photography

I am so very proud of her but I already miss her more than I can describe. I spent most of today fighting back tears and remembering her as the little girl I called "Velcro Girl" because she clung on so tightly when she wanted to be hugged. Yet as I sat with her and her dad and brother at dinner tonight I could see and appreciate the delightful young woman she has become.

 Some of my younger Facebook friends will often post  a comment about how their young children are exasperating them and how they can't wait till they are beyond whatever difficult phase they are going through. I'll often comment that much like Joni Mitchell sings in the Circle Game "... Take your time, it won't be long now, till you drag your feet to slow the circles down."

Having a child move on or away, even for just a short while brings back to mind how every day is a gift...how we must take the good with the bad and live every moment as if it was our last. If you've read some of my previous posts you will have seen this before, but it is good advice. Make a memory every day, not just the "special days" because in the final analysis every day is special, isn't it?

Be Well!