Day 209: The past four summers we have had young men and women from different countries come stay with us for a few weeks. Bringing with them their cultural differences, accents, experiences, its been a wonderful way to open up the world to our family without the expense of traveling abroad. The down side of course, is that after having bonding intensely with these lovely children, we have to send them back home to their parents each fall. As parents, we eventually have to deal with that moment when our children leave our homes to establish their own families, careers and become truly independent of us. We know this is inevitable, from the day of their birth, that at some point, they will leave us. Its just that we dont want to think about that until that day comes. We do celebrate their independence, fully supporting them in their career choices and the direction of their lives. But in the back of our minds, we know that we will see them. That either they will visit us, or we will visit them. The frequency of the visits depending only on their proximity to our homes and the schedules that they will keep. The problem with having fallen in love with the children from abroad is, Im not sure when Ill see them again. This was the last summer that they would be coming over, a new group to follow them next year, as this group has gotten to the age when they will be starting careers back home, some 4,000 miles away. This makes the heart ache I feel this weekend, that much deeper. Even if I eventually travel there, or one of them comes here, the years between the visits will be yawning wide and long, due to distance and the cost to travel. No Sunday dinners where the children come home. No day trips to visit or weekend drop ins. No see ye next year, mum, when they board the plane this year. The first of the group left last night, after a battle with Chicago Rush hour traffic on the Friday of Labor Day weekend. A series of trips to the airport over the next two days, will see all but one of them off, back home to their parents and the futures that they are destined for. And as I watch them get on a plane and leave me for the last time, a small part of my heart will break off and leave with each of them, traveling the distance, hopefully to stay with them for all of time.
Posted on: Sat, 30 Aug 2014 10:51:04 +0000
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