And Then They Grow Up...

Berry Baby the First has left the nest. She has gone to a city far, far away, much further than the city I went to so that she can attain a higher education.

What happened? Where did the time go? Wasn't it just yesterday that she was the silly little girl with the ponytail and the giggles? I thought she was just a little girl who needed help doing up her zipper and who wanted to watch Disney movies all day long.

Where did she go?

I spent some time Facebook chatting with this delightful young woman. I have always said this of the Berry Babies: They are magnificent children. They are well mannered, well spoken, talented in many areas, and generally a delight to be around. (And let me tell you that I work with teenagers. There are not too many teenagers I actually want to be around in my off time. These Berry Babies? I could hang out with them till the cows come home).

I'm a little bit jealous, I won't lie. She is off living the life that I once lived, where people are coming and going and things are happening all the time. She is getting together her textbooks and figuring out how to work her laptop and finding her way around campus. I just said to her tonight, I wish I could go back to university at the age of 26. I would so rock that place.

If there is any human being that I have faith in, it is in this girl. Her intelligence and maturity continue to astound me, as she has always astounded me. Her sense of humor, her ability to adjust to any situation, her desire to do well... I'm astounded.

I was worried at first the weekend she went away. What if she ended up like me, living in Hell with a howly cat and no friends? What if she was sad and lonely and felt like she had nowhere to go? How would this wonderful, sweet, angelic girl cope?

But she is not friendless or sad or alone.

Because she is wonderful.

I look forward to each and every step along her journey. I look forward to hearing about it and to remembering those steps that I took along my journey.