Our Son, The Graduate

Our son just recently graduated from high school as did the children of many of my friends. We who are experiencing this for the first time have mixed emotions about the tremendous milestone our babies...I mean our young adult children have just passed. And what a tremendous milestone it is.

Do you remember the early days of your child's life? The days where you recorded every little thing that he or she did and took several pictures every day because they changed on a daily basis! (Ok, maybe you didn't take pictures every single day, but I did. Now you know how crazy I really am!) Remember how excited you got over the milestones your child went through...he smiled for the first time, she cut her first tooth, she got her first haircut, she rolled over, when he started walking, his first word, and who could forget...THE TIME NIGHT HE SLEPT ALLLLLL NIGHT!!! Ahhh, those were the days!

Then there were the memories of the first day of kindergarten, their baby dedication, the first team they played on, learning to read, write, the first day of middle school, then came high school, prom, homecoming. How about the day he or she accepted Christ! How happy that day was! As the years went by, time passed so very quickly. In a blink of an eye, that tiny little baby who was so dependent on you is a grown man. He's shaving. He's bigger and taller than you. He's driving. He's looking at college majors and deciding on a career. His SELECTIVE SERVICE card and VOTER REGISTRATION card came in the mail! He has a bank account, a cell phone, a life that will be so very different that the one he's had for the last 18 years. He's, well, a man!

As a mother, it's hard for me to let go. They wouldn't even let me go in to help him register for his college classes! The nerve of those people! I had to fill out a form and he sign off to give me permission to see his grades! They even asked me why I needed to know. BECAUSE I AM PAYING FOR IT!!! Don't they know I'm his mother and I know what is best! Yes, they do, but they knew it was time for me to let go. I think that was the day it really hit me that my son did not need me as much as I thought he did. That is was time to let go of some things, trust him, and trust him to God's care. We had done all that we could. It's now up to him.

Ever so slowly, this young man who stands where my son once crawled is ready to continue to his next milestone. Not as my little boy, but as a young man ready to take on his next milestone to adulthood.

Enjoy your children. Savor every precious moment that you can with them. Work through the difficult time with lots of prayer and God's help. And take pictures EVERY DAY if you want! They are such a reward and a delight! (Yes, keep telling yourself this especially when they are flexing their 'independence' muscle!)

"Children are a gift from the LORD; they are a reward from him. Children born to a young man are like arrows in a warrier's hands. How joyful is the man whose quiver is full of them! He will not be put to shame when he confronts his accusers at the city gates." Psalm 127:3-5


In His Love, Cathy