Monday, August 15, 2011

Our Work Is Done

This past weekend, my family moved one of my younger sister's in to her dorm at college. Although she's in Greensboro, NC at North Carolina A&T surrounded by family, literally, a small part of me cringes at the thought of one of my baby girls "fending" for herself. I feel like they are my children, as much as they are my parents' children. You see, with all of the washing bottles, changing diapers, braiding hair, endless babysitting, trips to the movies, weekends hanging out, talks about boys/sex, attitude adjustment lectures, coaching to make independent choices, I feel like I had a hand in raising them.
They turn 18 years old tomorrow and they have turned out to be great young women. And although I feel like we have set them up with all of the equipment to succeed and flourish, there is always a small part that thinks they will lose the instructions or forget the keys at home. If this is what it feels like as a sister, I can't imagine what it will be like when I send my own little chickadees off to college in 20 years or so. Nevertheless, I close my eyes and push them out of the tree because they should, indeed, know how to fly by now.
I pray that all of our talks and chanting "Boys are dumb!" stick with them as they enter the next phase of life. *sigh* We will see how these first semester grades look. LOL!