My Baby is Leaving the Nest for the First Time

I can’t believe it’s happening – my baby, my first-born is leaving the nest. In just a few short weeks, my son will be going off to college for the first time.

I honestly don’t know where the time has gone. I still remember our little boy who had colic and cried for three months straight which left my husband and I feeling like we were going out of our minds. Oh, how many times we raced out to the car to take him to the hospital because clearly five hours of straight crying couldn’t be normal, could it?

Welcome to the world of colic, the doctor told us. And, so it began, the endless holding, bouncing, and running the vacuum cleaner to soothe him to sleep and to drown out his cries.

The colic lasted three long months. It felt like F-O-R-E-V-E-R until one day it just stopped.

Just like that.

And he became the happiest baby in the world.

18 Years Later

Fast forward 18 years later, and now my baby is ready to graduate from high school in two short weeks – leaving our nest – and heading off to college this summer for six weeks.

Now, I’m the one who’s crying. This time, I’m the one with the colic. I feel like the tears won’t stop, and I lay awake at night wondering how my baby became this handsome, polite, young man with a carefree attitude and a big heart.

And, so I decided to write this post instead of crying on my husband’s shoulder yet again. I know as a woman, and as a mom, that you understand.

“This is exciting,” my hubby keeps telling me. “It’s good for him.”

But I don’t want to hear these words.

I just want to hear him talk about a funny story that happened at school that day. In the morning, I want to open his door and gently nudge him out of bed. Before leaving for school, I want to give him a hug goodbye.

Bottom line – I don’t want him to leave the nest. But, I know he has to.

My New Resolve

All I can do now is cherish every single minute I have with him at home living under our roof in our safe, little nest. And, hope and pray that I’ve prepared him for the circumstances, challenges, and choices he will face in this world. I pray that God will watch over him as he leaves our nest and settles into his new nest at school. Since I can’t be there with him, I know his guardian angels will be by his side, and I pray that he will feel the power of the Holy Spirit. And, I want him to know that he can come back to our nest at any time, but this time, I’m giving him wings to fly.

Here, my son, your father’s instruction, and forsake not your mother’s teaching, for they are a graceful garland for your head and pendants for your neck. – Proverbs 1:8-9 (ESV)