We Made It!

Our oldest is officially a high school graduate and I've realized I'm birthing an adult.

It's a lot like having a baby.

The preparation can be grueling.

There are all kinds of mood swings. You laugh and cry and worry until you get to the point where you're ready to get that sucker out.

You dread the certain pain as they leave you.

You know there will be many blessings, but are certain your life will never be the same.

Our past few weeks have been full of labor pains.

Fourteen days ago my son turned eighteen and I was faced with the fact I am now the mother of an adult child. (Mammograms, glasses, gall bladder surgery and now this! It's a wonder I haven't started using a cane!)

Last Tuesday I watched him sing his senior solo, "Home" by Michael Buble, and all I could see was my little five-year-old saying, "I wanna go home." The poor kid is sick of me saying, "You can always come home, Keygan. We will always have a place for you."

My eyes welled in church yesterday as my husband sang Mark Harris' "Find Your Wings". I couldn't hold it in as my son approached him on stage afterwards and they shared a tearful embrace.

Soon it will be time for this adult to be born and I'm a little scared. Is he ready? Am I ready? What will our family dynamics be now?

Yet I know the unspeakable joy of childbirth, seeing promise and hope in the form of an infant and I can only imagine adultbirth contains the same rejoicing. I can't wait to see what God will do for and with Keygan. He has equipped him with heart and talent and great people skills. There will be unspeakable joy again as I watch him become what God has intended. Despite the twinge of sadness I feel, I know the future will bring bigger and better things (another tidbit he's probably grown weary of hearing), not only for him, but for us all.

As he marched out of commencement yesterday I marked it as the beginning of a new phase of life for my husband and I, both exciting and bittersweet. In the next ten years we will phase out of day to day parenting and transition into something different. The light is beginning to glimmer at the end of the tunnel and I look forward to what God may have in store for us.

As we say at our house, "It's all good." Yes, I'm pretty sure I'll be doing some sweating and panting and a little crying in the next few months as we bring this adult to the world, but the end result will undoubtedly be something to behold.