<p>I know I should be utterly happy at this point. My daughter is graduating from high school and will be going off to college in the fall. But. . . she’s the baby and I can’t help feeling these huge waves of sadness as this time comes to an end. Graduation is next Saturday and I don’t want to be a drag. I’m trying to cry only when she’s not around. Any tips from any veterans out there?</p>
<p>Aww, I wish my mommy felt this way.</p>
<p>I’m not a veteran, but I don’t see how you crying would be a drag. I’m still in HS, but my parents cried at my 8th grade graduation, and I didn’t mind. We know it’s hard. =)</p>
<p>bbecker and arthurbulla,
Thanks for your kind words. I hope my daughter feels this way, but I kind of doubt it. She often says,“How can I know what it feels like to be a parent? I’m NOTone!”</p>
<p>Apparently your daughter isn’t a writer. J.K. Rowling didn’t seem to need to become a teenage boy or a wizard to figure out how it might feel… : p Empathy is pretty useful!</p>
<p>But still, even if your daughter isn’t able or doesn’t want to understand, the way you feel makes total sense. Relatively soon, you’ll feel delighted, but I think major changes (especially when they have to do with people we love) are always sad in some way. They’re bitter-sweet. It’d be weird if you didn’t feel like this right now.</p>
<p>You are right, dis-grace, my daughter is not a writer! (Give her a calculus problem to solve and she’s in her element-lol.) I love what you said about J.K. Rowling and I’ll have to use that as a comeback next time she says the parent thing. She LOVES the Harry Potter books. </p>
<p>I was feeling kind of guilty for being so sad right now, so thanks for letting me know you think I’m not totally off-base.</p>
<p>Of course you’re sad. It’s a rite of passage, where they look forward and onward, and we old parents sit there and look back at how much they’ve grown through their 18 years. And then they’re gone, leaving a hole in our house (not to mention our heart), but they’re on to new, exciting adventures.</p>
<p>It’s the way it’s supposed to be, I’ve been told.</p>
<p>Sigh.</p>
<p>I don’t know how you could be human and feel any other way. As I attend each “final” event, the last concert, the last honors night, the last ball game, the last sports banquet, I feel more and more wi****l. How can it be that the tiny infant that I brought home just (what seems like) yesterday, is now ready to fly the nest. Her excitement and anticipation of her new life is such a counterpoint to my gloom. I am excited for her, and I do want her to be independent and successful, but the tiny voice inside my head is all about me, how lonely I will be for her. I know this will pass, and we will adjust to life in its new configuration, but tears at graduation are the least of my worries. I’m hoping to get through the month without crying at work, or in the middle of a deposition! (just kidding, don’t suggest an anti-depressant)</p>
<p>Oh, great. Just reading this is making me think of “the lasts” and start to cry, and D still has one year of hs to go! We just got the senior portrait information in the mail yesterday. 
Good luck all of you parents of seniors.</p>
<p>Well, it’s great to hear from everyone. Now I don’t feel so alone. I’ve been a little bit teary-eyed at work lately and one of my co-workers looked at me and said, “You should be so happy that you have done a good job and your daughter is successful and on her way to college.” Yikes!</p>
<p>Btw, momof2inca, I’m jealous! Seriously, have fun this year. 
It goes by soooo quickly.</p>
<p>well, I thought I would cry lots at our graduation today, but it went on so fricken long, we just all wanted out of there when the moment came</p>
<p>read this poem I posted on another thread…that is how we have to approach this change…</p>
<p>You will be fine. This is normal. Also really hard when you drop them off at college. But you will adjust and they do come home, go on vacations with you, etc. It is just a different relationship and in most cases, more mature. You will have fun visiting the college - parents weekend, etc. We sent our third child off last fall. It felt weird to be an empty nester but all is good. We love that he loves his school and also love seeing him! Same with his sisters. Oldest sister now in grad school, middle graduated two weeks ago from college. That was a teary time too. Yikes! Good luck and allow yourself to feel!</p>
<p>Hugs to you Sportsmama, I felt just like you last year when my youngest was a senior in High School. So much of our life had revolved around his sporting events, his friends, and his activities, that I just couldn’t imagine what life was going to be like with him gone. I hate to say it, but you are probably in for some more tears with the whole dropping your daughter off at school and coming home to the empty house thing, but the good news is that it gets better! Now that my husband and I have experienced a whole year of being empty-nesters, we realize that life didn’t end when we sent our youngest off to college. </p>
<p>Once you realize that your child is happy in their college experience you can relax and enjoy the fun that they are having and at the same time realize that now you finally have the time to pursue interests and activities that you have put off for years. Good luck with these next few months, and no matter how sad you feel about the ending of this era, things will get better.</p>
<p>so, in my earlier post I said I feel more and more w<em>i</em>s<em>t</em> ful, can’t figure out why I got censored for that.</p>
<p>fredmar–look at exactly which letters were censored. It’s a common acronym.</p>
<p>I know that I’m a bit sad that my oldest child has graduated from h.s. and will be going away in the fall. A chapter in my life has closed. Never again will I make him a lunch for school. Never again will I see him off to school in the morning or hear how his day went when he gets home. I feel like I’m losing one of my kids forever. I know it’s silly, but it just all feels weird.</p>
<p>This forum has helpt me so many times. We have just one D, and she graduates from high school this week. There is a rush of activity in the house–finals–reports–graduation speech—graduation-scholarship announcements–and grad party at our house.Yet with all this activity, I can not help but feel sad, too. I talk to my D about this-how I am happy for her doing so well in HS, getting accepted to a great school, and all the fun she will have in experiencing another part of the country. I also talk to her about how I will miss her, and that I now have a new chapter in my life as well…tears come as I let go just a little more…</p>
<p>I think these feelings are so common this time of year. My youngest is graduating from HS in 2 weeks and my oldest from college on Saturday. During a long phone call about logistics yesterday he told me that he would be spending some time at home “packing up his room and taking down all that stuff from HS”, before moving 3,000 miles across the country to start his job. Needless to say I burst into tears. My very sensitive 22 year old just consoled me as I used to do for him. I think that this is going to be a difficult month for me. We just had our family’s last prom, tomorrow is the final senior transition day (local custom) and then the graduations begin…My 3 are only 5 years apart in total, so I know that once this begins, it all happens very quickly. Before I blink they will be on their own, somewhere…This begins a new chapter for me, as well as for them. But, as I keep telling myself, these are good things. They grow up, become independent and begin to lead their own lives. I’m so proud of all of them I could burst…and I do…into tears!</p>
<p>wow, this is hard, I have tears streaming down my face right now, my oldest S had his senior prom last night, last band concert, last day of full classes. I am a widow, my husband passed away only three days into my S freshman year of high school, now fast forward four years and now my S is graduating and I wish my husband was here to see what a wonderful young man our son has become. I will miss my S so much, but I am also so excited as we all begin this new chapter of our lives!</p>
<p>well, my D is pretty much gone all summer, after graduating yesterday</p>
<p>10 day trip, the 6 1/2 weeks of working over the summer at a camp and and she comes to back to the city 2 of every 10 days this summer, which I know will be spent either sleeping, shopping, movies or friends</p>
<p>I get two 2 weeks in August before she leaves </p>
<p>So this is my last full week for quite a long time</p>