When Your Last Child Leaves
No one prepares you for many of the stages of parenting, including when your last child leaves your household to go out on her own. Mine is moving into her first house. It is a beautiful house in a safe neighborhood, and the entire opportunity is positive for her. I know she was going to move out at some point, but I was hoping it would be in another twenty years. I want the best for her, but there is something about the last child leaving that is harder. There is a sense of an ending to a glorious period of your life, even though I know the next phase will also be an adventure. I am not doing well emotionally with the situation. Here are a few of the issues I have been struggling with as she prepares to leave.
Have I counseled her on the important things?
Will she still have time for me as she creates her own family?
Will she be too busy to talk?
I will miss her car pulling into our driveway after work.
She won’t text me to tell me what time she is coming home.
I won’t hear her playing mind craft and her beautiful laughter.
We won’t have as many moments when she sits on the couch next to me and tells me the gossip.
Someone else will comfort her when she cries.
She won’t check with me about the outfit she is wearing, and the outfit won’t be from my closet.
I won’t hear her say, “What’s for dinner?”
Of course, while I am writing this, I am fighting tears, and feeling selfish because I know I need to wish her well and send her out the door, but I will miss her so much. If your children are still with you, give them a big hug and see them as the blessings they are.
