Launching a kid

We’ve had a stressful week here in the Lewis household as we made the countdown for Older Daughter to launch into the world.

Don’t get me wrong, we are all delighted with the new job she has in New Jersey as a certified professional nanny. The family she’s working for sounds ideal, the pay is generous, the neighborhood is lovely, and she’ll be close to her dear friend GG who is currently working on Long Island.

But the irrefutable fact remains that we’ll be separated from our dear daughter by the space of 3000 miles. That’s a little heard to swallow. As I told Older Daughter, ironically this wouldn’t be so bad if we didn’t get along as a family. But we do get along, and this makes the separation rough.

On the upside, we’re confident the solid foundation we’ve given her will prove useful as she embarks on her adult life. It will impact her personal choices for decades to come — who to marry, how to treat her future husband, how to raise children, how to someday form her own family life.

Anyway, enough philosophizing. The week was spent getting two boxes of her personal effects shipped in advance of her plane flight. Unlike packing for her three-month stay in Ohio for nanny school, this was a more permanent arrangement, so she thought long and hard about what she wanted to bring in terms of clothes, books, and other personal possessions.

Her room at her new job does not have a bookshelf, so that’s one of the first purchases she’ll make after she arrives. Until they we’ll hold off shipping her books.

Lydia knew something was up, and spent an inordinate amount of time on Older Daughter’s bed, looking pathetic. It’s hard for Pyrenees to accept the loss of a flock member.

I asked Older Daughter what she wanted for dinner on Tuesday, her last day with us. She choose navy bean soup.

We all slept badly Tuesday night and got up very early Wednesday morning. We’re an hour and a half drive from the airport, and her flight left at 8:30 am, so we were on the road by 5:45 am.

She filled in an ID tag for her one checked bag…

…and within minutes she was ready to go through security. I tried not to sniffle too loudly as I hugged her goodbye.

She called us late Wednesday evening, safe and sound in New Jersey. She’ll face jet lag over the next few days but will soon adjust.

We’ll have her back for three days over Christmas, but she’s on her own now. One kid, launched into the world. Where do the years go?

Source: http://www.rural-revolution.com/2015/11/launching-kid.html