Emotional turbulence comes with the territory of teenagers and high school. Things can shift without warning from anticipation, optimism, joy, serenity, acceptance, and pride to rejection, melancholy, fear and grief.
If you have personally felt all these emotions in the last five minutes, there’s a good chance you are the parent of recent high-school graduate.
In our house, I know the end of my daughter’s high school career came way too fast. While we were visiting colleges — as well as watching the last sporting event and away on the last band trip or soaking up every other “last” — it seemed someone hit fast forward and forgot to push stop.
Something feels different on the last first day of school. Then suddenly, around college decision day in May, reality slaps you in the face like a cold, February wind: This is the year my baby moves away.
Navigating through dozens of clichés and even through all the necessary planning and preparations, nothing could get me ready for the void that is looming.
I will surely miss the friends who occupy my daughter’s days and a big part of her heart, for they have secured a place in mine as well. My house will be uncomfortably quieter without their regular visits.
I will miss her daily presence more than imaginable, along with frequent hugs, our honest conversations, and her smiling eyes and laugh that I look forward to each morning and afternoon.
While some families become a lot quieter as they send twins and triplets off all at once, we are blessed to have another amazing daughter still under our roof.
What I think I will miss the most is seeing my two girls together every day. They share a closeness adored and envied by many and something I treasure more than words can express.
While reminiscing runs high, we need to celebrate the members of the class of 2017 with the pomp and circumstance they deserve.
Congratulations to all the moms, dads, and teachers, too. The year was filled with a long list of decisions and accomplishments made possible with your support.
Whether your child is going off to college, joining the workforce, traveling, or serving our country, this is an ending for us.
I’m reminded, though, the end of high school is called commencement because it signifies a new beginning.
As we start this summer and party like it’s 1999 (coincidentally, the year most of these graduates were born), we recognize the beginning of independence and adulthood and celebrate who our children are becoming.
As parents, we can’t help but wonder if we prepared them well for whatever comes next and we worry, just a little, if they will be OK.
So, as I sit down to write this, a group of 13 spectacular seniors including my daughter, Jenna, are over at the school carrying out a plan.
They each chipped in to buy a ticket to Senior Ball and created a “ballposal” they are now delivering to a classmate whose needs are sometimes classified as different than their own.
Their surprise assures him that Ball will be incomplete without him. After all, their needs are really all the same — kindness and acceptance. He said “yes”!
These are the young adults we are sending out into the world.
Something tells me they are going to be better than OK.
Things to do beforeD-Day (Drop-off Day)
- Take too many photos
- Stock up on tissues
- Host a bonfire (or several; that huge pile of college marketing materials should keep it burning for days!)
- Write a letter or journal for your child
- Share your own college experiences (well, maybe not all of them)
- Learn Snapchat
- Let them have as much time as they need with friends
- Take a family getaway if you can
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