Goodbyes

It’s a week of goodbyes for us. 

Today is the Senior Clap-Out for Banana Girl. Unlike some clap-outs, this one takes place at each of the four elementary schools. She and her friends boarded a bus to go to their elementary school, where the students line up and clap as the former students walk through the halls celebrating their soon-to-be graduation. The school will look smaller, the teachers older and the kids tiny.

I moved several times in my childhood, and while I always returned to my elementary school to say hello to favorite teachers—even when pregnant with my own kids—I never had this continuity experience. But I imagine it’s strange and poignant, especially for the parents who show up to watch.

Tomorrow we say goodbye to College Girl for the summer as she heads to her internship in Jerusalem. She’ll be working at a humanitarian organization as an intern for eight weeks there. It’s her third trip to Israel, so I’m not particularly nervous this time around (finally!). But I’ll definitely miss her, even though I’m so proud of her for doing this and I know how great an experience it will be for her.

And then Saturday we say goodbye to Banana Girl as she heads to college orientation alone. Alone! This shouldn’t be a big deal to me. She’s flown on an airplane many times alone before. She’s made arrangements with the school to provide special lodging for her since she needs to arrive the night before orientation starts, and she’s too young to stay in a hotel by herself (that freaked me out). She’s more than ready for college. But it is a big deal, because she’d going alone and hearing about what happens isn’t going to be the same thing as seeing it for myself. And she’s my baby, going to college! 

There’s a lot of change, a lot of next steps and a lot of adjustments coming up. They’re exciting and scary and sad and happy, all at the same time. I’m looking forward to hearing about all of them. In the meantime? Someone send me chocolate!