Closed Stores and Opened Hearts: Our visit with our daughter was delicious. Not because we shopped until she dropped, because most of the stores at the outdoor mall she had chosen, were closed for Easter Sunday. She weathered this disappointment without a blip. In the past, this would have been a disaster. The restaurant she had chosen was open and yummy. The weather was almost balmy and though we had only one shop to explore, and bought nary an item, it was a happy visit.

Blogging:: On my agenda of “to do’s” was telling her about the blog, which concerned her life but of which she had no knowledge. Full disclosure comes naturally to me, to a fault, so bringing her into the loop was quite easy. Her first response was “You mean you are writing a book!” That girl always cuts to the chase. “Sure” she said, to my suggestion that we might “collaborate,” that she can write some stuff too.

Graduation Queen: But her concerns were elsewhere, appropriately focused on that journey, not the daily journaling of a blogging mom. “Graduation Queen” was her gleeful description of her developing identity. To quote our daughter, well-trained and quite skilled in the art of labeling emotions, “I have two mixed feelings about graduating. I am excited about graduating and I am sad at the same time.” Why? “I am leaving my two good friends D and A.”

Later she asked “Do you think S and N will be proud of me (two friends from home)?”  You bet! “Maybe next year I can come back and visit.”

For sure!

Tomorrow’s Blog: A chance encounter on campus with another mom and the subtle dangers of  PRAT (Connecticut) or MASSCAP or whatever DDS calls the needs based assessment in your state.

©Jill Edelman, M.S.W., L.C.S.W.