...is say goodbye to this girl:
(This really does not seem very long ago!)
I have been feeling such a range of emotions, at the very top is PROUD. I am so dang proud of this girl for setting such a high goal and reaching it! I am also excited, amazed, nervous, a little envious, and also quite sad. I am mostly sad that this young lady will no longer be a part of my daily life, and I feel a hole where her presence is missed. I feel sad that when she next comes home she will be more like a guest in our home, and that feels weird.
It is also very rewarding to see how amazingly well adjusted and independent she is! It is such an affirmation of choices we made in parenting. Now, I don't want to get all Time Magazine, "Are you mom enough" on you, but I made some socially tough choices in raising my children {extended breast feeding, family bed, attachment parenting, etc.}. I got a lot of comments from "well meaning" family and friends about these choices. Mainly, the view that if I parent this way, I would raise clingy, dependent children. I knew in my heart that this was not true, and I remember saying to Tony that we are doing the right thing {for OUR children} and that it may not show now, but just wait! Sure enough, here is a young lady ready for anything life has to offer. She is so mature and level-headed, I hardly worry about her. Maybe these "well meaning" people should have warned me that I would become attached, as I am having a harder time with this than Alexa is!
So, enough about me, here are some pictures of Alexa's new home:
Her dorm, Clark Hall
Her bed..
Her desk and beautiful built-in bookshelves..
Tony photo-bombed me on this one, Alexa in her room...
Alexa and her room-mate, Katheryn.
And, our goodbyes. These were taken just as Tony and I were leaving:
We are sure going to miss this young lady!
3 comments:
so sweet! and hello, cute quilt. she is going to do amazing...
you are a fabulous mom. good for you for being in tune with what's right for your family & doing it in the face of criticism. i look up to that. ♥
good luck to all of you! ♥
Good for knowing what was right for your family and sticking with it, despite what others thought. You certainly have raised amazing children and Alexa is going to shine even brighter as she makes her way on her own.
Her hall and dorm room look very beautiful :)
How exciting for Alexa! This is exciting business. I'm impressed with your acknowledgement that you are a little envious :) I think that often times and am grateful to know there are others out there.
There are so many ways to raise our kids, I'm not sure why anyone decides it's their business to tell anyone how to do it. If you were like me, you also changed a little bit with each child to support their needs as well. I'm not sure there is ever a right or wrong way, and let's face it...sometimes it doesn't matter what we do, our kids are going to be who they are going to be and make the choices they want to make no matter how they were raised.
Post a Comment