Trust and Care

Trust and care. I have thought about these words a lot in the run up to moving my 17yo to college.

Parenting is a journey replete with uncertainty. There are myriad worries about keeping a human alive and raising them to be a good person while also wrestling with our own baggage.

It's always a grounding level set for me to reflect on the broad strokes of Laurel's arc. As a baby she never wanted to be put down and nursed for hours on end. As a child she did not want to separate; she was like a cat clinging to a door frame when it came to school drop offs. Over the years she has thrived into an adventurous, curious, ambitious person; our resident extrovert always game for any adventure or challenge. Her journey is a beautiful articulation of how humans are meant to grow and evolve and stretch; how we can surprise ourselves and work through hard shit and find a better edge to our humanity.

And at this massive transition point, amidst the joy and tears and bittersweet goodbye hugs, I keep thinking about how we as parents need to trust in how much we care. If we are fretting and wondering and questioning and sometimes losing our shit, it is coming from a place of deep care. What a gift it is to love and care so deeply.

We also need to trust our kids to explore, to find their way, to make mistakes, to return back to us after the moments where they push us away, to have their moments of uncertainty and struggle and come out the other side. What a gift it is to trust someone you love.

Yesterday was a day of great flight. I couldn't be prouder of Laurel. We will no doubt have many more teary moments of uncertainty and loving ache AND she is ready for this. And so am I.