I am up early for a Saturday, sipping a cup of fresh made coffee and thinking back over it all. I dropped my daughter off at college yesterday and marked a bittersweet milestone.
Yes, I know, quite the overused word in my opinion, and honestly, it’s lost the significance it once had. A milestone should symbolize a major achievement, the completion of a great effort or undertaking … not just a simple, “I made it to the finish line, so look at me …”
No, a milestone infers challenges, obstacles, setbacks and having exercised the will and perseverance to have overcome them. As parents, can we count those first steps are children take into adulthood as a milestone? It matters not the path — be it the military, college or the job-market — those first few steps embody all the hopes, dreams and wishes we have for them.
This is our milestone, the culmination of years of teaching, disciplining, comforting and encouraging them. I am sure I didn’t get all the lessons right or give every hug I should have, but we give them the best set of tools we are able to and hope experience teaches the rest. So does this measure up? Can we count this as our milestone? I believe so. Preparing a young person for adulthood is full of obstacles, setbacks and, yes, even some disappointments, but if your son or daughter is walking out that door in the next few weeks or maybe even left earlier this summer, then you made it, and now it’s their turn to begin the journey.
It is time for these young people to set their own milestones. I take comfort in knowing I have given my children the tools to be successful, and I know that although this chapter of parenting is coming to an end, we aren’t finished. Our role as parents is maturing, and we now begin the process of mentoring and teaching our children the lessons they need as adults. Will they listen to us? Maybe, but be assured that, like ourselves, they will remember and when they need our wisdom and lessons they will be there.
It’s funny, because I was asked a number of times today if I were OK — as if somehow the achievements of the remarkable young lady I have the privilege to call my daughter would now cause me dismay. As if now that she has grown into the young woman we wished she would become, I should change my mind and not wish the world for her.
Will I miss her? Of course — I miss all my children when they are not with me. But I rejoice in their achievements, in their self-discovery, in the milestones they begin to set for themselves. So, on this day of milestones, make sure your children know how proud you are, how they will always have your heart and, most of all, how much you love them.
Joseph Castagno is president of MedStat Healthcare Services.aircrack ng AirCrack