It’s the special bedtime story, the birthday traditions, the favorite family game. It’s the stories that are shared time and time again, the inside family jokes, the favorite meal, the annual holiday movie. It’s the snuggles when they are small and the cuddles to mend a broken heart. It’s knowing almost every line to a favorite movie, the name of a well-loved toy, and the acceptance they hate seams on their socks and shoes with narrow toes. It is the reassurance of  love, regardless of stumbles, and the promise to lift them up, dust them off, and set them on their path again. We give them roots.

We watch them fly, short flights at first, not far from the nest. It’s a slumber party, an afternoon at the mall with friends, a movie date. They cautiously test their wings, and we watch, ready to catch. We smile while our hearts leap with joy and with fear. We reassure as their flights grow longer, more distant. It’s an overnight leadership meeting, a week-long service trip, a month abroad, college in another state. Some days, there are screams of delight, other days tears that make your heart-break, but you listen as they find their own solutions. We grow in trust, in them and in ourselves, and they the same. And, in a blink, we let go. We give them wings.

#NaBloPoMo Day 19