It’s been said that the decision to have a child is to agree to having your heart walk go walking around outside your body.

And you want them to leave you. You do. Isn’t that the ultimate goal of parenting? To teach them to fly?

But that doesn’t quell the ache that settles deep in your heart, behind your eyes, at the base of your throat, as they pack up their bags and pillows, backpacks and guitars,

Until the next time they descend upon you.

Four days here, three days there, and in-between, the shared and the missed laughter, stories, songs. How I love those two independent pieces of my heart!

But, standing in the parking lot, watching them, the pieces still left in my chest tear and pull and break, as the yellow car and the red tail lights disappear through the snow.

“Making the decision to have a child – it is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body. ”
― Elizabeth Stone