It happened again.
The first time I noticed it, my eldest child was 4 years old.
When she was two, people always told me to leave her to "cry it out" in kids' church. I knew how it felt to be abandoned. So I stayed. "She'll separate from me when she's ready." People looked at me like I had three heads.
But it happened. As I said, she was four; her younger sister and I were dropping her off at playschool on her first day. I had parked in a limited time zone - and told her the truth: if I didn't go back to the car, the police would make Mommy pay money to get her car back.
"Do you HAVE to go?" she said.
I gave a wry look and said, "I'm afraid so, honey."
She stared at me for a couple of seconds, as if drinking in everything about that moment. Then she shrugged and said with a smile, "Okay Mommy. Bye!" and she whirled around and started to play happily with the other kids.
As soon as I was back in the car and on the road again, I let out a whoop of joy! It had happened - just like I knew it would. It was the threshold of a new era in her life. She felt confident and comfortable in her own relationship with me and with herself to be able to let go on her own. What a triumph that was!
And today - as I was saying - it happened again. She got her first paying job.
The last couple of years has been leading up to this moment - I've watched her blossom in knowledge and confidence - turning into the amazing young woman I always knew she would be. And today was just the opening of another door, just like that day in preschool. A new job in her chosen field - loving the work, her co-workers, and the organization for which she is working. What more can a person ask for! And it couldn't have happened to a nicer person.
The first time I noticed it, my eldest child was 4 years old.
When she was two, people always told me to leave her to "cry it out" in kids' church. I knew how it felt to be abandoned. So I stayed. "She'll separate from me when she's ready." People looked at me like I had three heads.
But it happened. As I said, she was four; her younger sister and I were dropping her off at playschool on her first day. I had parked in a limited time zone - and told her the truth: if I didn't go back to the car, the police would make Mommy pay money to get her car back.
"Do you HAVE to go?" she said.
I gave a wry look and said, "I'm afraid so, honey."
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| Source of this image through Google Images at: http://www.popscreen.com/v/37ug/Perfect_Strangers_-_The_Dance_of_Joy |
As soon as I was back in the car and on the road again, I let out a whoop of joy! It had happened - just like I knew it would. It was the threshold of a new era in her life. She felt confident and comfortable in her own relationship with me and with herself to be able to let go on her own. What a triumph that was!
And today - as I was saying - it happened again. She got her first paying job.
The last couple of years has been leading up to this moment - I've watched her blossom in knowledge and confidence - turning into the amazing young woman I always knew she would be. And today was just the opening of another door, just like that day in preschool. A new job in her chosen field - loving the work, her co-workers, and the organization for which she is working. What more can a person ask for! And it couldn't have happened to a nicer person.
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