My Eldest Daughter

I guess most mothers go through the same thing, when it comes to our children.  We all want them to grow up to be independant, healthy, happy adults.  We think we are ready for them to move on, but we just can't help worrying about them.



We try  to give them the courage, stength and independance to leave us.  I know I worried, did I do every thing I could do to make her ready to leave home.  Even when she was little she was very independant and just charged right in and never looked back.



When she graduated from high school, it just seemed too soon.  It seemed like yesterday when I took her to day care.  She is so excited getting ready for the after graduation party. 



Her friends were all over and getting ready at our home and it just caused me to tear up watching them.  I still remembered all of them as children playing together. Here they were graduated high school and getting ready to go off to college.



Talking about indepence she had her mind made up she wanted to go to the University of North Texas in her junior year of high school.  We had went to Universitys all over Texas and when she toured U.N.T. she said, "That's the one I want to go to."



She had just turned seventeen in Feburary, the year she graduated from high shool.  I thought she was to young to be on her own and tried to get her to go to the community college here and then go to to U.N.T. but there was no changing her mind.  I finally decided we raised her right and she would be okay. 



When she was 2-years-old I put her into a day care center so she could be around children her own age.  The teachers told me not to be too alarmed if she cried for the first few when I left, she'd adjust.  The first day I was prepared for her to cry and I was braced to be strong.



She held on to my hand as we walked down the hall to her classroom, when i told her, "Here we are."  She lets go of my hand, walks into the room, the teacher tells her to go out side and play with the other children.  She took off and never looked back.



When I finished talking with the teacher, I had to go look her up and when I said good bye she didn't even look up.  I was the one that felt like I wanted to cry.  And it was that way everytime I took her to school.



All the way through her school years she has always taken charge of her life.  We tried to raise all our children with the same strength of character and the independence to strike out there own.