New Beginnings
'And suddenly you know... It's time to start something new and trust the magic of beginnings....'
And suddenly you know... It's time to start something new and trust the magic of beginnings....'I love the magic of new beginnings- and life in our family is full of them right at this moment. All three of our kids return to school today…. Two of them are beginning their last semester of college, and our caboose is rounding the bend into third grade. I love watching them all head into the future and I am so grateful to be here to watch them each spread their wings into another blue horizon.As much as I love new beginnings, they always pluck a bittersweet string deep within me. Over the course of my career working with those at the end of life I have sat with far too many mothers who knew they were going to miss the next ‘beginning’ their child had - and to this end, I have helped many of them find a way to symbolically be present for their children on a first day of school they knew they would never see.These moments of time that I have shared with these beautiful women- they live inside of me- every single time I see my own children start a school year anew. When you are a companion to someone who is doing the hard work of letting go in the way that these women I am writing about have, it changes you- it carves a space within you that never fills. It is not an easy space to hold, but it is a beautiful space- and one I would never let go of.My older two children are far enough out onto their own horizons that their new school years unfold without my ability to witness. But our little one, is still a little one, and this morning, like a lot of other moms, I will shed a happy tear when I watch his shoulders disappear into a throng of kids filing through the double doors of their future…. but there will be other tears that escape...and they will always fall into that river of memory that runs through my heart…. that belongs to all those mommas that said goodbye too soon...
Cherish the magic of new beginnings…. And remember, every day is a new beginning... This is the gift we are given…..