Big S. gave me a copy of an essay she read when her son left for college. The title is: As You Leave Home and the author is Jerry B. Jenkins. Here are some excerpts:
And so it has come down to this. You're going. Really going.
Oh, you'll be back. It isn't as if I will never see you again. But when you return, you will come as a guest. For all practical purposes, you are gone for good. It's stunning to realize that the cliches are true.
"Before you know it, he'll be gone."
You're at an age where you don't want to be told what you understand and what you don't. ... The fact is you can't understand me just now. You will. Your own children will educate you beyond any classroom or degree.
A songwriter tried to tell us that the moment we try to hold slips through our fingers like sand. I heard that message and was moved by it, and I even tried to heed it. But I didn't know how true it was until now. My hands are open and reaching, and the sand is gone. The moment is past. You're leaving.
If you're not openly weeping, please make an appointment with a mental health professional.
Big Daddy and I will not have to experience the Empty Nest Syndrome. We still have the oldies.
This is a toast to all the moms and dads sending a child off to college.
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