A New Chapter…

Had to say goodbye to my youngest child, my daughter Kendra, last night as she headed off to her new house, new job and new life in Florida after graduating from college. It was bittersweet of course. Just like when you’re reading a good novel and you know “the end” is coming and you want to finish but you don’t want to at the same time because it’s been such a great story…that’s how I felt as my daughter drove off. I didn’t want her to leave but of course am happy for her and proud of her and want her to start her next chapter.

In a way it will be a new chapter for me too. No more college bills…no more late nights helping edit papers…no more anxiety over whether she will have enough credits, intern and service hours and the like to graduate on time, if she will have a job, where she will live, etc. etc. I know I’m lucky that she figured it all out and is happy about it all. And I hope, from time to time, she will still need her mother, even if only over the phone for advice.

Fitting that as I waved goodbye I realized she was hitting the road to her new destiny on the Feast of Pentecost, the Christian festival celebrating the descent of the Holy Spirit on the disciples of Jesus after his Ascension, also known as the day the church was started.  I said a prayer to Saint Christopher for her safe travels, a prayer to Mary as a mom “losing” her child to adulthood for myself to have peace, and a prayer to the Holy Spirit to bear her on eagle’s wings as she soars into her future. (Not so coincidentally, the mascot of her college, Florida Gulf Coast University, is the eagle!)

And so I’m reminded of the lyrics of the song, On Eagle’s Wings, taken from the Bible’s Psalm 91:
“And He will raise you up on eagle’s wings, bear you on the breath of dawn, make you to shine like the sun and hold you in the palm of His hand.”