A new phase in my life

I feel bad that I haven't written here in a week, but this week has been full of so much activity.  On Saturday, our oldest child graduated from high school.  Yes, I am now the mother of a high school graduate!  Wow!  How did that happen?

At the ceremony, I ran into my friend D whose daughter was also graduating.  D and I met on their first day of kindergarten.  We had both just left our children in their classrooms and were outside crying.  The principal was there, comforting the two of us, remembering how hard it is for young mothers to leave their first child at school for the first time.  D and I became good friends.  After dropping the kids off at school, we would call each other and talk for a long time.  For a while, I was her co-leader for our Girl Scout troop.  We watch each other's babies as they went through adolescence and into the teenage years.  On Saturday, we watched them graduate high school.

What's next?  Well, like many high school graduates, my oldest is looking forward to college in the fall.  Hopefully she'll be able to find a summer job soon.  In the mean time, there's a family vacation that she is helping plan.  We don't know if she'll be home these next few summers or if she'll be busy with work, school, etc., so we want to make sure to have some time together.

It won't be long before they start to leave the nest for good.  I keep reminding myself that the goal is to raise our children into adults that can move out on their own and be productive members of society.  Yes, it makes me sad, but more than that they make me proud.