Your last stanze perfectly captures both the joy and sadness of parenthood. It's such a wonderful and amazing journey, and yet it leaves you with an open wound even as your children go out into the world and thrive. I'm not sure anyone who isn't a parent (especially a parent of adult children) can really understand just how painful that is, or the bittersweetness of the whole journey.
and that for that day or weekend we were all a family again under one roof and every bit of left-behind mess was worth it :) Yes! It makes everything feel complete and normal again, even if only for a brief while.
I haven't showed our daughter this poem, and I don't know if I'll be able to anytime soon. I think it would make her feel more guilty than anything, at least until she's much older and has kids of her own, and that isn't really fair to her. It isn't her fault that she grew up in exactly the way we'd try to make possible for her, and that her leaving is so painful for us both.
Much like, when she comes home for a visit, I don't tell her that I have this overwhelming urge to just cling to her for hours and not let go. The fierceness of that kind of love is something she won't understand for a long time to come!
I knew you would understand, though, as much as you love your girls. This poem hurt to write, but in the end, I think it perfectly captures exactly what I wanted to say.
It's such a wonderful and amazing journey, and yet it leaves you with an open wound even as your children go out into the world and thrive. I'm not sure anyone who isn't a parent (especially a parent of adult children) can really understand just how painful that is, or the bittersweetness of the whole journey.
and that for that day or weekend we were all a family again under one roof and every bit of left-behind mess was worth it :)
Yes! It makes everything feel complete and normal again, even if only for a brief while.
I haven't showed our daughter this poem, and I don't know if I'll be able to anytime soon. I think it would make her feel more guilty than anything, at least until she's much older and has kids of her own, and that isn't really fair to her. It isn't her fault that she grew up in exactly the way we'd try to make possible for her, and that her leaving is so painful for us both.
Much like, when she comes home for a visit, I don't tell her that I have this overwhelming urge to just cling to her for hours and not let go. The fierceness of that kind of love is something she won't understand for a long time to come!
I knew you would understand, though, as much as you love your girls. This poem hurt to write, but in the end, I think it perfectly captures exactly what I wanted to say.
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