Stories Like This

Listen, all of us have stories like this. The things our children do, the way they make their moves out of our small neighborhoods, the way they bring their adventures home to us, the way our focus shrinks tight around them, and the way they push against that, against us, and explode with hope and determination, carrying us with them onto a plane of feeling we never even thought possible, one of complete, gut-wrenching love, devotion--and release.

Loving them well means letting them go. Farewell, dearest of our hearts. Come back soon, safe and sound. Of course the only thing worse than the children leaving home is if they could not do it - could not spread those cherished arms to embrace us once more, then turn their backs to face the world with all its pain and possibility.

~ Dominique Browning