Unexpected little gifts

September, 2011

As I reflect on my summer, one hard thing was to say goodbye, once again, to my daughter. Just got her home from Baylor after graduation for a few weeks, then it was time to pack her up again. This time to Knoxville, not quite as far as Waco, Texas, but away from home just the same. I know it was a good thing, a normal thing to do after graduation and I am so very thankful for her job there in Knoxville. As her Mother though, I am now, a month later, missing her still. I am missing her coming in late at night, opening our bedroom door to say she was in. Missing her car pulling in the driveway after a night out. I am even missing the clothes on the steps waiting to go up to her room! When I wake up in the morning and come in the den, all the lights are off, the front porch light is off, the sink is empty of dirty snack dishes, the dirty clothes pile is empty from upstairs. You might think these are good things, but even so, just a reminder to me that she is gone. My baby girl, who I prayed for 22 years ago, has moved out and still hard to realize that has happened!!With this in mind, I am trying not to be the overprotective Mother and calling her all the time to talk. I know she is 22, and can take care of herself. I am trying so hard to wait for her to call me. I know she is busy getting herself situated in her new lifestyle, and busy at work, so I just let her be the one to call when she has time, usually(!).Out of the blue the other day, I got a text from her..... a simple little text, two silly words.... but it meant so much to me. A reminder that she does think about me every once in a while.... "Missing you" A sweet message from daughter to Mother that was an unexpected gift that day.Today, I wake up with a sore throat, itchy when I swallow and believe it or not, a summer cold. So we stay home, watching church on tv. The phone rings at 8:30, early for a Sunday morning,and we usually wouldn`t have been here... It is Lara. She is on her way home from a weekend trip to Atlanta, and just wanted to talk. About 45 minutes later, we say our good byes, "I love you`s" and then she is gone, just like that. But what a special, unexpected little gift that was.As I was reading a great devotion this morning, it was talking about the relationship between friends and how they change and grow. You can so easily use this same devotion, these same thoughts for relationships between daughter and Mother. It just jumped out at me as I was reading. I am at that point in our relationship where I need to give her room to grow and change as she is growing up into a mature adult. "love is not possessive." How true. This is what it said....Healthy friendships are relationships where each person gives the other room to grow and change. Instead of possessing their friends, they encourage them to grow and change. Paul says it simply and clearly, “Love is not possessive” (I Corinthians 13:4). True friends give each other freedom. It is from that freedom that a deeper friendship, a healthier relationship will grow. We both are in new chapters of our life. Trying to get use to being a little bit older for both of us. Lara, old enough to be out on her own. Me, old enough to have a daughter out on her own! But I have a feeling that we both will make it. As life goes on, I will just enjoy these little unexpected gifts that God continues to give me when I least expecct them.I love you, baby girl!!