Page 28 - August Banner 2018_Neat

Page 28 August 2018 The Catoctin Banner Newspaper www.TheCatoctinBanner.com Published by www.EPlusPromotes.com

C atoctin eyes, no shower for days, and no

K IDs For kids and parents alike rest in sight…there is absolutely
no denying that that season of life
is incredibly hard and stress-filled.
But with three heading out into
adulthood, this mom thing just isn’t
by Anita DiGregory getting any easier. I am still sleep-
deprived—only now it is because
I am waiting for one of them to
“There Goes My Life”…Because arrive safely at home, or because I
am praying for them all and all their
Kenny Chesney Just Gets It different needs, or because I am just
worrying about them. And for the
most part, their struggles are a lot
bigger now, their decisions carry
Can someone please answer doesn’t get any easier. You’d think it problem lies. I want to protect a lot heavier consequences, their
this question for me? Why? Why? would! Maybe I have learned some them from the falls, the mistakes, heartaches and pain generally can’t
WHY do the months of January lessons along the way (valuable the pain. But, maybe, they learn be healed with a hug and a Band-
and February seem to drag on for lessons like: they aren’t really going more from their struggles than from Aid anymore. Yup, this mom thing
what feels like an eternity, while the to use an iron, so don’t buy them their successes. Maybe, in trying to is crazy hard. I don’t know, maybe
months of June and July speed by in one—even if the college prep sheet protect them from getting the same I am doing it all wrong (a haunting
the blink of an eye? I have consulted lists it—and they probably aren’t scars that I have, I am denying them question I have pondered since they
the calendar! Theoretically, they going to need the biggest meal plan). huge life lessons that they need to were babies!).
both appear to have the same Maybe I am a little more prepared succeed. Maybe, I need to pray But, here’s the thing: I don’t
amount of days in a week, same for the mid-terms and finals panic more and trust Him more. Maybe, know how to do it any differently,
amount of hours in a day. So what is calls or the homesick calls. Maybe these are the lessons I need to learn. and I don’t think I would even if I
the deal with that? not. Problem is, I am not a very quick could. They have my heart and all
I think I may have cracked the Here’s what I think I am learner! that comes with it (the hugs, the
code and figured it out…at least for supposed to learn. I have to learn You know, I used to think that tears, the lectures, the scolding,
me, personally. See, during those to let them fly, which sounds good when I was knee-deep in diapers the celebrating, and everything in
winter months, I am just starting to in theory, right? But letting them and completely sleep-deprived that between). And as much as it hurts
see the proverbial light at the end fly also includes all the turbulence, that just had to be the hardest of to walk around with human-being
of the very long, dark tunnel, and soaring, and crashing that come times. Deep in the diaper trenches, sized holes in your heart, I wouldn’t
I am pushing ever so hard to reach with flight. See, that is where the with bags under bags under the do it any other way.
it! However, those summer months
fly at lightning speed, because no
matter how much I want to live
(and set up permanent shop) in
denial-land, August is there waiting
for me, complete with all its forms,
fees, and back-to-school meetings…
and then, BOOM, just like that, I
am sucked back into that long, dark
tunnel!
Okay, okay…it isn’t really that
bleak and sinister. August isn’t
really circling around me while the
theme music from Jaws plays in
the background. But sometimes,
especially at 3:00 a.m., when I wake
in a panic, heart and mind racing,
with an ever-growing “to-do” list
running through my brain, it sure
feels that way, maybe even more so
this year.
Yup, as much as I’d like to deny
it, August is upon us. With it,
another little bird is about to spread
her wings and leave the nest, flying
northward for her freshman year.
With her will go another very large
chunk of my heart. It is truly one
of those miracles of motherhood,
that we can still walk around and
function when so many pieces of
our heart are missing; but that’s
just what we do. We don’t have a
choice.
For my husband and I, this isn’t
our first ride on the “send your baby
off to college” coaster, but it just