Tomorrow my child will go off an adventure alone. She is going to Italy for three months in search of herself and some deeper meaning for her life. I envy her and admire her courage. Few people are comfortable spending time with themselves, and learning how to do that can bring great peace. Her life up to this point has all been in preparation for this moment--she just didn't know it, and now she is ready to go off and learn some important lessons.
In reality, I sowed the seeds of wanderlust before she was even born--studying for a semester in Copenhagen, backpacking through Europe for nine weeks in the early Seventies, and going off to Libya to teach for two years. Only now can I appreciate what a leap of faith it is for a parent to say good-bye to a child at an airport and to have no idea what the future will bring them. I hope that her goodness will bring out the goodness in the strangers she meets. I pray for her safety, that she'll eat properly and not forget to brush her teeth.
Just like her first day of Kindergarten, I am feeling left behind. But I guess that is as it should be. My life up to this point has also been in preparation. We all must send our children off. My parents watched me go. I know she will come home a different person. I did. Travel does that to you, especially if you are brave enough to go alone.
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