Letting go, just for a little while

It's time to reflect on being a parent for a moment.  My daughter Claire is so close to 13 you can see it from here.  13 going on 30.  When she was five years old, we were at a party with a very diverse group of people of all ages and stages and at one point a man came up to me and asked if I was her mother.  Yes, I said.  He said 'I've just had a more interesting conversation with your daughter than I've had with women five times her age.'

That's the way it's always been.  Claire is so interested in the world around her, it is a joy to watch and experience.  But along with that goes a very kind and loving heart.  At the moment, she is my second in charge.  She helps with her sisters and takes some of the load of parenting and after school juggling off my shoulders.

We got her end of semester report home from school on Thursday.  One B and the rest As.  Two merit awards and one academic achievement award.  Every teacher commented on how interested she is in learning, how much she enjoys a challenge, what a joy she is to teach.  I was so proud I thought I would burst.  To see how she has matured and grown up over this past year, to see how she has thrown herself into high school is wonderful.  As parents, we must be doing something right.

So it was with mixed emotions that on Friday I let her go for a little while...  I put her on the plane to Darwin, where she met her father and they flew to Singapore and then to the UK.  I pick her up in Sydney in two weeks time, when she flies in on her own from Singapore.  She was nervous, excited and scared all at the same time.  She'll come back a little bit different, I'm sure, hopefully with the appetite whetted for more overseas travel.

What was she most looking forward to about going to the UK?  Seeing the British Museum.

 
That's my girl.