The Launching Period

I was having an awesome conversation with one of my girlfriends about a season of our lives that there’s very little conversation around… The Launching Period as she called it.

While we were talking we were both sharing how there’s all kinds of groups for new moms, breastfeeding moms, mommy and me, moms of young children but something kinda happens around the time mom’s kids grow up and turn into teens… its kinda like the conversation stops there… but here’s the thing… the transformation doesn’t stop… not for us and not for them… ever!

They grow up… they start to drive… and we’re sort of left here wondering where all the time went and how they got so BIG, so FAST!!!! It’s a challenge.  

Parenthood is a delicate dance between being the disciplinarian and a friend. 

It hurts to watch them go through their first heartbreak, their losses at sports, being left out or the ton of other things they experience while growing up.  On the other hand, watching their wins is the greatest gift a parent can witness. 

I personally have felt such a sense of gloominess + excitement around my son’s starting to drive and grow up… even though growing up is exactly what they’re supposed to do… no one ever tells us what WE’RE supposed to do during the process…or how we’re supposed to be… or what it looks like to re-create yourself.  

There’s no, What to Expect When Your Childs Graduating Highschool? (maybe I should write that… hehe)

And how do we navigate this new transformational period… The Launching Period, as my girlfriend Brandy V. called it. (Thanks for the title B, love you).

I love the saying we give them roots and then we give them wings but no one ever says how freaking unbelievably scary it is to feel your heart walking outside of your body and you can’t protect & shield them from the painful parts of life anymore like you could when they were little.

Parenting is EVERYTHING.  It’s often every emotion wrapped up to be felt all at once… and sometimes navigating new periods of their growth feels kinda like your standing in the middle of a swimming pool on an inflatable raft… all shaky and unstable… like at any moment you may dip right or left and fall in.  

And then, there’s times you’re sitting on the couch with them laughing and talking for hours or when they take you out with their own money that THEY earned, or they stop by your office just to say hello because they were in the neighborhood. You wish you could bottle up those moments.  And those beautiful moments are sprinkled throughout. It’s those moments that make all the others worth it. 

And what I’m noticing about parenting a young adult is… it feels just like when I learned to strap in his infant car seat or brought him home from the hospital for the first time or loaded up his stroller into the car for our first outing.  It was all new… and it was all scary at first, but it was all amazing, it was truly everything.  

And as I sit here typing this a few weeks away from his highshool graduation... I observe not much has changed… I still get scared, I still worry, I still wonder what will happen next.  What will come after this launching period? Who will he become? Who will I become?  What will we create in this world?

And I realize just like in all the other phases of our lives it’s ok, we will find out and we will make it through… but not without getting a little uncomfortable first.

Growth, evolution and change will always push us out of our comfort zone, it will always call for a new version of you.  In the end, you will find your way and it will ALL be ok.

#followyourfun #bringyourownsunshine #growthevolutionchange #thelaunchingperiod 

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