The Art of Letting Go

You were there when they were conceived.
God blessed you with the perfect child born.

You fed them when they hungered
You soothed them when they cried.
You rocked them endless nights.
You disciplined them when they lied.

In the blink of an eye
Teenage years arrive.
The battle of the wills begin.
The independence you taught
Becomes smart-mouthed, slammed bedroom doors and arrogance.

Sometimes you wish them gone.
They “know it all” by that age
Patience runs very thin.
Little by little
They wean themselves to friends.

The bittersweet graduation clutches your heart.
The preparation distracts you from the inevitable.
The departure of the one you bore.
They will take their place as productive citizens.
You step back and distance even more.

You’ve worked yourself out of a job.
You don’t have the oversight anymore.
Painful change in the relationship, you adapt.
The need to be needed ceases.
The emotional detachment is a conscious effort on your part.
You look back and say, “Raising them was easy, it was the letting go that was hard”.