and then they grow up......

There is something about a child leaving to pursue her life that is both heart wrenching and beautiful. It is sad, and wonderful. It is hard, but it is time.
My daughter drove off in her little blue Toyota this morning with the sun at her back on to the rest of her life. She's 20 and this is not the first time for her to move out, as she did go to CSU for a semester and lived on campus that year. That separation was much more difficult for me than this one, but I am still so sad.
We will all miss her, even her little brother who gave her complete hell all the way out the door. I guess that would make it easier than the crying of not wanting her to leave that he did when she was at CSU. That really would make it hard.
As a mom, this is the time in my life that I begin to focus on me and where I am and where I want to be. My son is 4, so I am far from an empty nester, but that is a piece I truly wanted. I never want to stop having children in my home.
I love being a mom, and I love watching them grow, as hard as this very day is, it is a gift for me to be here to watch her drive down the driveway and pray for her safety and pray she makes good decisions and always learns from her bad ones. I pray for her to find true love, make tons of new friends and always be able to hold onto the old ones. I hope she always has what she needs. I hope she is able to create her vision for her future, so she can clearly chase her dreams, spread her wings and fly.
It was such a gift for her to come home for her sophomore year in college so we could spend so much time together as I transformed my career and life into doing and being what I've wanted for a long time. This change left me our Mondays where we were able to go hiking, exploring, walking, shopping, to lunch at Beau Jo's, to the museum to look at rocks, and so many other places. To have my second birthday, just me and Auriel, filled with lots of talk about life, boys, dreams and each other's challenges.

How lucky am I to have a daughter who is also a best friend.