The Last Hurrah

This past weekend, my husband and I attended our last parent’s weekend for our son. He’s now a senior in college and we keep looking around trying to figure out where the time has gone. I’m sure I will note this again once graduation rolls around, and probably be a mess. But, as I walked around the campus and reflected on what he had been like during Freshmen Parent’s Weekend, I am blown away by the changes in the kid.

First, he’s not a kid anymore, which is totally weird. Second, he knows how to do things that I never got around to learning. He’s definitely smarter than me in so many ways. It’s strange to go from parenting on a daily basis, always having the “right” answers, and monitoring so many of his moves, to sitting back and watching him make all the decisions and navigate without us. Sure, he wants advice sometimes, and we still hold some of the financials in our hands, but I love seeing the fully formed independent human he has become.

My husband went on a lovely bike ride through the New England fall foliage with him and this picture felt like it encapsulates what we are feeling. We are still a part of his life, but he’s headed into his exciting, unknown future, and we are always behind him to support and watch with joy.