It seems like yesterday that I gave birth to a sweet little baby girl in the middle of the sweltering August heat. And then I blinked and she was in preschool. I blinked again and she was taking ballet and gymnastics. One more blink and she was graduating 8th grade. My recent blinks have been rapid-fire -- she went to prom, graduated high school, and now has turned 18.I've had a wonderful time being Emily's mommy, and I know it doesn't end when they become adults. But now she really is an adult and headed off to college this week. I'm having a hard time hiding my emotions, but they're mixed emotions. I'm so happy and thrilled for her, yet sad that she won't be around the house every day -- to walk and get a coffee with, or just to watch The Biggest Loser with on tv.
Yesterday was Em's birthday and for the first time in a long time, I didn't take the day off to spend with her (because I'm taking the rest of the week off to drive her to school). Instead I worked and she went to lunch with her friend Amelia and made some adult decisions. She got her nose pierced and got a tattoo. I'm not happy about either (that's actually a huge understatement), but it's her decision and now that she's 18, I couldn't do anything about it. She had been talking about both for quite some time and I know she put a lot of thought and research into it, but I'm still disappointed that she went through with it.
Last night we went to dinner at Cityside, one of our local restaurants that we like. Em wanted to go there for her birthday dinner; she has fond memories of it as well. It was the 4 of us (me, Em, Kev, and Zach), her dad, and Amelia (my other daughter). Zach flirted with all the waitresses as usual and barely ate. I think he was saving room for dessert! Following dinner we went home and had cake -- carrot cake, like we had at Em's graduation. Em cut us giant pieces again, and then we made her take half of what was left to go to her friend Rikki's house. She spent the rest of her evening with Rikki and some other friends which was nice for her -- her last full night in Brookline.
We leave this evening to start our drive down south to take her to college. We'll spend tonight and tomorrow at Bob and Sandy's, and will get to Scott and Rachel's on Thursday. They live about 90 miles from ECU, so we'll spend the night there and will get up bright and early on Friday to move Emily into her dorms.
Emily will always be my baby girl (in my mind's eye she's about 5 years old), but I'm excited to watch her spread her wings and start her own life now. Hopefully there are few stumbles and lots of happiness in front of her.
Happy Birthday, Emily Ann!
