Parents are People Too

It’s that time of year… lots of friends are sending kids away to college. Several of my closest friends are emptying their nest.
A friend posted this on their facebook status today: I want my kids to grow up and be independent and I don't want my kids to grow up and be independent! (Annie Salness)
I can relate… (AND I’m relishing coming home each night and giving Molly a kiss on the forehead because she chose NOT to go to college this fall).

I wonder what my friends are going to do with their new redefined life? Now that they, like their children, are grown up and independent, in their own way.
And, the closer our nest gets to empty, the more I start to look at myself and see what else, if anything, I’ve got going on in my life.

Add to that some conversations with Molly over the past few days. Adult conversations. About real life. About me as an individual. A person who has made decisions, some good some bad.
And a trip next week to go visit my mother.
This will be my first time spending extended time with her as an individual, without my Dad, who passed away 15 months ago.
They were such a pair, a couple. Parents.

And I realize if I want Molly to know me as a person, not just her Mom, I have to be willing to know my Mom as Louise.
Grown up and independent.
As I want her to know me.