A Graduating Mom

Hello all! Dana Corbit here. I thought you might like to congratulate me because I graduated over the weekend. Well, it was our daughter, our firstborn, who actually donned the cap and gown and walked during the ceremony, but as her mom, I can tell you I graduated, too. She marched out as a high school graduate, and I emerged, a little worse and more tear-stained for the wear, as the mother of a high school graduate. A parent of an adult.

I know this is supposed to be a proud moment, one of those points where parents can look on with pride in realizing that the children they led through riding toys and two wheelers is ready to pull out of the driveway, equipped with all of the roadmaps and owner's manuals they've provided them. But I have to admit that in my gut, all I felt was this overwhelming need to cling. I wanted to pull her tight and tell her stories the way I did when she was that toddler, always wise beyond her years. I wanted to beg for more time to get to know her though I once thought I knew her better than anyone. She turned that tassle, and I knew in my heart our lives would never be the same. I hear that it gets easier with each child, but I know myself and am fully prepared to have two more little heartbreaks when her sisters make that march to their futures.

Okay, I admit it. Letting go is going to be so much harder than I thought, and I always thought it would be a killer. Parenting has been one of the most exciting, most exhausting, most rewarding and most frustrating things I've ever done. I thank God for the opportunity and the responsibility He gave us in entrusting us with these three little girls.

In most life moments I like to find appropriate Bible quotes to express the sentiment, but in my maudlin state today, I feel like quoting the great Dr. Seuss from "Oh the Places You'll Go!" "You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose. You're on your own. And you know what you know. ...You are the guy (or gal) who'll decide where to go." Whether I'm ready to let go or not, I pray her journey will be a great one, and I'm sure God has great plans for the graduate's mom as well.