In another week, our baby girl will spread her wings and soar away. She’s set to enter Meredith College, where she will study Fashion Merchandising and Design. She is so excited and so ready to go… and Beth and I definitely share that enthusiasm. At the same time, there is also a massive spring of emotions rising to the surface for this proud papa. To channel and begin to process and manage the tremors, this morning I sat down and wrote the poem I am sharing below.
Last night, she and Claire hit Amelia’s bedroom hard to get it cleaned out. Goodwill was the beneficiary of the substantial overflow from her private collection. Back on her 13th birthday, we bought her a phonograph, along with a couple of records to go with it. I found the record player in the “go” pile last night; she thought it had stopped working. Of course, Dad got it working again, and then spent many hours last evening and this morning going through the archive she has accumulated, which features many gifts from yours truly. This collection of 33 records has some I’m sure she never played (sorry John Denver), but it’s pretty amazing how it represents her life, and ours.
- Adventure Time, Marceline the Vampire Queen, Rock the Nightosphere
- Billy Joel, 52nd Street
- Billy Joel, Greatest Hits, Volume I and II
- Billy Joel, Streetlife Serenade
- Blood Sweat & Tears, BS&T4
- Elton John, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
- Esther Phillips, Confessin’ the Blues
- Fleetwood Mac, Rumours
- Heart (Self-Titled)
- Heather Maloney, Making Me Break
- Hole, Pretty on the Inside
- Joan Jett & the Blackhearts, I Love Rock ‘n Roll
- John Denver’s Greatest Hits
- Joni Mitchell, Hejira
- Meet the Beatles
- Nirvana, Bleach
- Nirvana, Nevermind
- O.B. McClinton, Obie from Senatobie
- “Over the Edge” Original Movie Sound Track
- Pat Benetar, Get Nervous
- Pat Benetar, Precious Time
- Rickie Lee Jones (Self-Titled)
- “Saturday Night Fever” Original Movie Sound Track
- Simon and Garfunkel, Bridge Over Troubled Water
- Simon and Garfunkel, Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme
- Smokey Robinson, Love Breeze
- “The Sound of Music” Original Movie Sound Track
- Supertramp, Famous Last Words
- The Mentally Ill: Gacy’s Place: The Undiscovered Corpses
- The Rolling Stones, Aftermath
- The White Stripes (Self-Titled)
- Van Halen (Self-Titled)
- Wings, Band on the Run
The roller coaster will continue to spin us around until next Sunday, when we’ll arrive home from Raleigh to stare at an empty bedroom. That room has been Riley’s until now, and there’s no need to worry about him. At long last, he is taking possession of the cool bedroom his sister snagged years ago, promising him it would be his in time.
Take On
by Roger DarnellWhat a challenge, as a parent, moving through days
that count down until the young one’s wings unfold,
then spread and fly, fully fledged, toward life anew.It’s a gushing upwell, internally, triggering tears
and facial tremors one can hardly control. So many
attachments to days and memories, distilled and sacred.Why do things, places, scents, sounds, then yank at our
emotions so smartly, overshadowing today’s sweetness
in meticulous reexamination of treasures from the past?Maybe, what’s best in us separates off, splinters away,
and it’s not just the child we held and raised,
proving our success through her bold, able independence;Inside, a token of maturity arrives we’d not expected.
Without words, it says, this task is finished. It adds:
Your childhood dreams are now essentially complete.The mountain of care, concerns, efforts, sacrifices,
and the precious keepsakes earned in reward, do not
disappear, after moving day. They do demand attention.In this moment, hug that kid, with focus on the future.
Steel yourself and your inner child: You’ve done well.
Take on the day, the minute, the second. Life goes on.
