I have been Mom for most of my adult life.
H was born when I was 23. Since then, my life has revolved around kids.
Sure, we’ve had stages. Babies and diapers, elementary school, now middle and high school. In each of those roles, society has treated us Moms as special.
Once the kids leave home, are we no longer special?
I just dropped T2 off at Drum Corps.
For those of you not familiar with the world of marching band, Drum & Bugle Corps is the marching band competitive summer league. T2 made the snare line this year, and has voluntarily subjected herself to 56 solid days of grueling 13-hour (or more) practice and competition, interjected by overnight trips from one competition site to another. At the end of this tour, she will compete with the hundreds of other maniacal marching band members in the DCI national competition.
As a mom, this means I will only see my 15 year old baby two days out of the next 56. Mid-July, she will come home for one short weekend. I’m assuming she will primarily sleep during this time.
This is a hard day.
I have been asked by other moms “How can you let her leave home for the entire summer?”
My answer, of course, is “How could I not?”
As a mom, my job is to teach my kids to be strong, self-reliant, and to pursue their dreams. T2’s passion in life right now is the snare drum. The beat of her practice pad reverberates through our house at all hours. She has been training for this summer the entire school year, and she was so excited last night she could hardly sleep.
A big part of me is extremely proud of her. The small, whining part of me wishes she would just go back to being five for a few days. She used to scared to leave my side. Now, she is traveling across the country.
I miss her already.