College Bound

It is pouring rain. As a matter of fact it is suppose to pour rain all day, it seems like the perfect day to go tour a college campus and that is what we are going to do. Mark, Aly, Avery and I are off to tour Michigan State University. This college is the bone Aly has thrown us since we asked her to try some other schools besides the one she has her heart set on in Rochester, New York. I would prefer to be prancing around this campus on a warm sunny day, but that is not going to happen. Mark tells me that on his IPhone it shows the line of rain is nowhere near the campus which makes me feel a little better, but for now we are enjoying grey skies and wet roads.

 In no time at all we will be packing our car and dropping our daughter at college and right now the most important thing is where we will be dropping her. Next will come, how we will pay for the place where we will be dropping her, than we will wonder what she should take with her to where we are dropping her. Not long after that we will pack what she is taking to the place we are dropping her and drive to this place and actually drop our daughter at this place. All of a sudden I have a second daughter launched into the world and she is has only just cracked open her books for her senior year in high school.

 The best part of all of this is working on my release skills. Parenting is actually a "Catch and Release" program and the sooner you get comfortable with the release part the better. Empowering my daughter so that she can make the choice for college and actually go is the best gift I can give her right now. I have no doubt she will make the right choice for her and I also have no doubt that she will make it in the world. My doubt is whether or not I can actually release.

I am pretty sure that all my girls are saddled with a Mom that will never stop mothering them. The trick is releasing my girls just enough to let them think that they are on their own and still keeping one maternal tendril attached. In the next few months I will be running this drill over and over until I get it right. Let's face it, I already have one shot over the bow with Ashleigh already launched, but she will tell you that my tendril is still attached much to her disappointment.

So, rain or no rain, we will make our way around the Michigan State University campus. We will undoubtedly buy each of our girls a t-shirt and discuss the attributes and down falls of the school while we drive home. Perhaps this bone we were tossed will be a real contender, we will just have to wait and see. On a bright note we have driven out of the rain. Could this be a sign of clear skies for our college bound daughter?