Today my daughters senior photo proofs arrived. This is my baby the youngest of my three daughters, now a high school senior.She looks grown up and so mature. She is 18, after all. But in my mind, shes still the baby I never imagined Id have; the one that surprised us both.

Just when you think you’re free of the little kid stuff, you discover big kid stuff…and I-don’t-want-to-be-a-parent-to-my-parents stuff.

The snow fell on Sunday and covered the ground with a pure white blanket, and our daughter arrived home from her semester abroad in London. I had talked to her the day before on the phone she was in bed with the worst possible cold; her packing complete, she simply didnt have the energy to get out of bed even for meals. As she told me about the medications she had taken with no effect and the looming 22 hour trip home the next day, she broke down in tears.

Just when you think you’re free of the little kid stuff, you discover big kid stuff…and I-don’t-want-to-be-a-parent-to-my-parents stuff.