For someone who is having trouble writing, you do a beautiful job of it. 😉 This post is so relatable on several levels -- not the least of which is the use of in-depth "shower caddy research" as a coping mechanism.
This absolutely resonates…I did all those things and was amazed I wasn’t feeling anything….until we said goodbye and I literally had tears streaming down my face for the entire journey home…not actual crying…just non stop tears…guess I had some feelings after all 🤣
Loved this, Jo! You perfectly captured the emotional difficulty in letting our kids go. It’s so easy to lose sight of that in all the prep work that needs to be done to get them to the next stage. Sending you love as you and your daughter (and family) move through this transition!
Hi, Jo-Ann. Your essay--and similar ones about parent-stress-grief about departing kids--resulted in me chuckling ... because I remember when I left for college, and drove 1,050 miles by myself to a place I'd never visited, thrilled to be finally more than 1,000 miles from my parents. Shower caddies? We had showers in a dormitory open shower where there was no opportunity for a shower caddy. Freezers, refrigerators, storage compartments--nope. Same when I took my first child a thousand miles away to college: take kid, assume kid will figure it out, leave child to move on into the next stage s/he has chosen. The next 2 were different because it was post-divorce, and they had determined that I was the 100% cause of the breakdown of the marriage ... and thus the destruction of the family, so I was not permitted to accompany either of them to college. I don't know what they took with them.
Yep they figure it out! A shower caddie is a little handheld thing you bring to the bathroom with your shampoo in it :) I'm so sorry how things turned out with the last two. That must be very hard.
Beautiful essay Jo-Ann. I feel this deeply, even with a child who’s only just starting middle school. I think with having 1 kid, it forces me to move on quickly from each stage (without another behind to linger there), often before I’m ready. If the storage bins help you organize your feelings, so be it! ❤️
So well written! I like to think of this parenting stage as recalibrating vs letting go. Makes more sense to my brain and my kid’s brain.
Love that! And it’s more accurate for sure.
For someone who is having trouble writing, you do a beautiful job of it. 😉 This post is so relatable on several levels -- not the least of which is the use of in-depth "shower caddy research" as a coping mechanism.
aww thanks! And lol, don’t forget I have a Phd—there’s no skimping on research over here! 🤪
Same! 😉
Loved reading this, Jo-Ann. About to send my last "baby" to college out of state...
so bittersweet 💕
This absolutely resonates…I did all those things and was amazed I wasn’t feeling anything….until we said goodbye and I literally had tears streaming down my face for the entire journey home…not actual crying…just non stop tears…guess I had some feelings after all 🤣
Ha so relatable. funny/not-funny!!
Wow. You captured the emotions I’m feeling just perfectly. Thank you.
❤️❤️❤️
Loved this, Jo! You perfectly captured the emotional difficulty in letting our kids go. It’s so easy to lose sight of that in all the prep work that needs to be done to get them to the next stage. Sending you love as you and your daughter (and family) move through this transition!
Thanks Sarah! And sometimes we might want to lose sight of those feelings 😝
Hi, Jo-Ann. Your essay--and similar ones about parent-stress-grief about departing kids--resulted in me chuckling ... because I remember when I left for college, and drove 1,050 miles by myself to a place I'd never visited, thrilled to be finally more than 1,000 miles from my parents. Shower caddies? We had showers in a dormitory open shower where there was no opportunity for a shower caddy. Freezers, refrigerators, storage compartments--nope. Same when I took my first child a thousand miles away to college: take kid, assume kid will figure it out, leave child to move on into the next stage s/he has chosen. The next 2 were different because it was post-divorce, and they had determined that I was the 100% cause of the breakdown of the marriage ... and thus the destruction of the family, so I was not permitted to accompany either of them to college. I don't know what they took with them.
Yep they figure it out! A shower caddie is a little handheld thing you bring to the bathroom with your shampoo in it :) I'm so sorry how things turned out with the last two. That must be very hard.
It continues to be very hard. I'm still the villain, and their mother is still the hero, 20 years hence.
😞 that’s awful.
Beautiful essay Jo-Ann. I feel this deeply, even with a child who’s only just starting middle school. I think with having 1 kid, it forces me to move on quickly from each stage (without another behind to linger there), often before I’m ready. If the storage bins help you organize your feelings, so be it! ❤️
Thanks Catherine. Yeah, saying goodbye to each stage is hard in it’s own way. Thankfully kids keep us on our toes so we can’t dwell too much…
I can’t lie, it’s kind of fun going down those storage rabbit holes but it certainly cuts into my writing time which is definitely not fun.