If I was sitting down to a cup of my favorite Verano coffee with you, I would tell you about my plans for this weekend. This weekend is the final weekend. The last two days I have with her. Our cherished daughter is flying away Monday morning for her study abroad term in Italy. I won’t see her again until the Christmas tree is up and snow could be on the ground. I am thrilled for her, jealous of her, nervous for her, and sad for me. She will eat the best gelato, see amazing architecture, experience a different way of life, taste the most wonderful pasta, live amongst history. She is twenty years old and wants to see everything. She has an adventurous soul, but is still so naive that I worry. I am so thankful to be in this age of electronic communication so that I will be able to FaceTime her and know she is alright. I can’t imagine sending my little girl off to Italy for three months depending only upon postcards for communication – kind of like I did when I was naive and twenty. I traveled to England, Amsterdam, Brussels, Paris, and Scotland with a girlfriend and made it back alive. It was one of the greatest experiences of my life.
So this weekend we get her packed. We get her room tidied up. We clean out her car. We do all of the mundane chores that will take my mind off the inevitable looming departure at the airport. We’ll take her out for a farewell dinner – or brunch or lunch if she prefers. We’ll play one more game of croquet or cornhole or bocce ball as a family because she loves playing games. She and her 16 year old brother will laugh as only she can make him laugh. She and I will watch one more Agatha Christie mystery together while we drink a pot of tea – because we love to do that together. Last night we all sat outside and played Uno by candlelight under the stars until we could no longer tell if it was a green two I just put down or was it a blue two? She loves playing card games.
Our weekend will be whatever she wants it to be, because she is my baby girl and I am going to miss her terribly. This will be a good weekend because we have nothing scheduled, but one filled with a rollercoaster of emotions for me.
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I’m happy that I was the oldest child in the family, so that my parents had the other six kids to distract them from what I was doing at the time. ::sigh:: Good that you two will be in touch throughout her time away. Anchoring! 😀
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Although it sad and scary for me, my daughter’s semester abroad was an amazing for her. It’s a wonderful opportunity. Relax. She will come back confident and enriched.
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I have no doubt she will love it! She plans on taking several weekend trips to visit Switzerland, Germany, and Spain while she is there. Everything is so close by (from a Western USA perspective.) Did your daughter travel much while abroad?
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My first thought as I was reading this was, “Thank God for social media and cell phones!” Communication is instant, not like you said, waiting for a postcard. How exciting for her! Also, keep in mind the holidays will be here before we know it! 🙂
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Yes, in general I have my reservations about always being accessible via text or messaging, but it does have its upsides!
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