Emma

Today starts the last week of undergraduate classes for my oldest. These four years have gone by so quickly.  It is bittersweet as she is close to embarking on true adulthood...I think something we are both a bit sad about.

It wasn't that long ago that we eagerly anticipated her arrival on a hot August morning.  This tiny little being who was going to change our world more than we knew.  How quickly that time went!  Preschool, to grade school, middle school and high school.  Then suddenly, too quickly, dropping her off at college

Nothing describes the feelings you experience as you watch your child become a young adult.  Observing how they navigate the world of college, deal with some of the challenges of that world and come away a better person is a bit of a testament to how you've raised them.  A nod that maybe, just maybe, you did a good job.

She leaves her undergrad life behind but not school.  She'll enter OSU's French Phd program this fall...teaching entry level French while taking her own classes.  She'll move into an apartment with two close friends that she'll pay for herself.  She will be responsible.  It is hard for me to think of that little baby I brought home as this young woman she has become.  It didn't take long to get from that point in time to this one.

So, as she starts this last week of undergraduate classes, I hope she holds on to a bit of that child within.  I hope she continues to have grand and crazy dreams and realizes that anything she wants to do is within her power.  I hope she realizes that even though she's taking a step into this new adult world, we will still be here.  Supporting and cheering her all along the way!