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I'm a 50 something daughter, sister, wife, aunt, mother and friend. I have a husband and a son with my parents living in my basement. Keeping it together through menopause, the teenage years and the golden years. I hope you visit often.

Saturday, February 19, 2011

Learning to let go

I have always said that you need to keep learning new things in order to grow as a person. That's why I like to take enrichment and hobby classes. This weekend I am learning something new, and that is to let go.  On Thursday, Jake left for a five day marine biology sea camp in Big Pine Key, Florida. He has been looking forward to this since we signed him up in the fall. It's a school sponsored trip, so he knows everyone going. This is not the first time that Jake has gone away on an overnight trip. In second grade they did an overnight at the zoo and every year after they went somewhere on a class trip. No, this was the first time that he got on a plane and went on a trip. Jake has flown many times before, with us, so he knows what to do in an airport. I know he will be fine and the trip sounds like great fun. It's the tightness in my throat and the fact that I can't sleep that is the problem. By the way, Lee is sleeping fine. I was watching HLN and they showed an arial photo from Boca Raton, Florida. The news guy was saying there are " tens of thousands of hungry sharks fifty feet off shore"!  There were all these dark spots in the water. Apparently the sharks were looking for schools of fish in the warmer waters. Just what I wanted to hear. I called Lee to express my concern. He said it was better they were looking for schools of fish in Boca and not middle schoolers in Big Pine Key. HA HA, so not funny. I started thinking about how life changed when Jake came along, and the fact that in six years, he will be off to college. When Jake was little and would go off someplace I would tell him the usual things, be polite, share with the girls, and have fun. When he left this time I told him basically the same thing, be polite, stay away from the girls, and have fun. This is just one of many times to learn to let go. I'm not sure that as a parent, you ever let go completely. That just seems impossible to me. This is a learning experience that will help us grow. For Jake, it is learning to be independent, for me, it is learning to let go of the urge to protect my child and trust that he will make the right decisions. I'll just be glad when class is over, and Jake is back home. Take care!

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