This year has to be the earliest yet for cutting down our tree, over a full month before Christmas. We snuck in a Christmas photo while sipping hot cider at the tree farm and that night we celebrated an early birthday for Emma. All this and much more was crammed into the limited time we had her over Thanksgiving before she enthusiastically headed back to New Hampshire.
Is this our life moving forward? Scrambling to hold on to the nostalgia of family tradition while our children branch out, spending more time away than under our roof. Next fall Lauren heads to California and Trescher will be smothered with all of our love and attention. Lucky for him we added a puppy to our family.
All three of our children are constantly stretching, shaping and changing. On a percentage basis, Trescher wins in accumulated inches, but growing pains are felt by everyone. We’re extraordinarily grateful it’s all going according to plan, but how did we get here so fast? We certainly don’t want to move backwards, although a freeze frame now and again would be welcome.
The auditions, regattas, games and official visits in what seem like a million cities are all in our heads, but we get dizzy realizing everything that happened this year. They’ve all made big decisions. Emma’s choice to go to Plymouth State was just this past spring although she is so at home there it’s hard to believe this is brand new for all of us. Lauren committed to Cal Berkeley just before Thanksgiving, so that’s nice and clear, and Trescher has decided to take up rowing himself.
Like our children, it’s important to embrace our responsibilities (old and new) and our unique and evolving levels of independence. When we were college bound, all those years ago, it seemed so easy to leave home. We were desperate to be independent and on our own. Did we even consider what our parents were feeling? Probably not. Now the roles are reversed. Who knew you could have such a dichotomy of feelings. Our hearts smile with pride and ache with apprehension. We remind ourselves, this is the plan, an amazing plan.
Soon we’ll all be together again, and for several weeks. Will it be wonderful? We hope so, but even if it’s not, we’ll savor every minute.
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