We are home once again, my Nina and I — just the two of us, having safely ensconced our son Nicholas in his new home in the halls of academe. Thanks to those of you who have emailed and commented in response to the previous post; the immediate connection with a community of friends is one of the most rewarding aspects of maintaining this website.
It certainly is a poignant moment, taking your youngest child off to college – joyful, yes of course, but tinged with a piquant measure of sadness as well. My heart was bursting with hope and pride as our Nick, now a young adult taking his place among those shining and unweary faces all so full of unbounded promise, let go so lightly of the hands that held him in infancy, soothed the fears and injuries of childhood, and applauded his youthful triumphs. But at such a moment — as this young life, whose care and husbanding and nurture, above all else, gave purpose to our own, begins to move under its own gathering and astonishing power — we also think of the arc of our own lives, and cannot help but be reminded that this joyous beginning is very much an ending as well. Looking back at the years just gone by — from sitting on our stoop in the warm May sun with my son’s tiny newborn body in my lap, to the moment earlier today when he bent his six-foot-four-inch frame earthward to hug me farewell — the interval seems absurdly, shockingly brief, and it is hard not to be startled, and appalled, at how quickly our threads unreel.
But enough of that! It is a day for celebration. Here’s to you, my boy! I’m mighty proud of you, more than words can ever tell.