Is it just me, or is anyone else raising an independent child? I guess I can hardly call her a child now, as she just turned 18, but my mind still sees the little pony-tail topped 3-year-old bouncing around like a pogo stick when I look at her.
I realize that lately she will soon be off to college and is merely testing her independence, but some days I think that my little girl no longer needs her mother. The thought terrifies me. *sigh*
It reminds me of the time one of my friends visited me long ago (before I had children) with her then 2 1/2-year-old son. He was nearly potty trained and excused himself to the "little boy's room." He completed the task all by himself, and he was so proud. Not yet a parent, I was confused when his mother burst into tears and asked her what was wrong. I thought his accomplishment was great, he thought it was great, and yet his mother wept for no apparent reason.
"He doesn't need me anymore!" she sobbed.
Ah...so that was it. Her little boy was growing up. I gently patted her arm but couldn't relate to what she must have been going through.
After a few minutes, the toddler again bounded down the hallway to the bathroom, only this time he screamed, "MOMMY POO POO!"
I smiled at her and said, "He needs you."
I got a frantic call from my daughter yesterday. She'd been working on props for an upcoming puppet skit at church and decided some sort of welding epoxy would do the trick. It's amazing what you can't buy at Wal-Mart until you turn 18, but now she has the run of the store, so they sold it to her. However, she learned quickly that even the most gentle of squeezes on a tube of goop can send vast amounts of the stuff out the flimsy backside, and she found herself and her project covered in it. Thus the frantic call to mom. She still needs me. *smug smile*