 If you have not yet experienced the celebration that is high school graduation these days, it is a far cry from what my 1989 graduation was like. Based on my memory, the graduation celebration season extended about 2 weeks - the first week consisted of practicing for and receiving my diploma, and the second week was at the beach with the other newly-minted grads. We came back with a smattering of piercings and dead dog tired from not sleeping for seven days. And then it was over. We went on to our summer jobs, lazy days by the pool, and quietly slipped into the next phase of our lives without a whole lot of fuss.
If you have experienced the celebration that is high school graduation these days, then you know that makin’ a fuss extends from the moment they go back to school as a senior until the moment you walk away from their dorm room. Of course there are the hugging of necks pictures that have to be posted, but after that the celebration rug gets pulled out from under all The Mamas who have dedicated themselves to the graduation season. I took my time to grieve and to be a bit melodramatic about this monumental milestone in my own life. I even got sick and coughed and took to my bed for a few days for good measure. You know, just to be sure it was properly recognized, a few hundred times, how flat worn out I am from executing a nearly perfect year of sending my girl off on her own. As I recovered and allowed myself to be nursed back to health maybe a few days longer than I actually needed, I tried to think of another time in my life I felt this slap worn out in all ways. I spent many wonderful years teaching middle school students to love learning, to build electrical circuits, and to launch rockets built from scratch. That kept me busy. Kids of all ages are my people, so for many years I happily kept busy camping for three nights every year with them and calling out numbers for Bingo Night. I enthusiastically volunteered at the annual spring festival, baking sweets for the Bake Sale, working the game booths, wrapping arms in fake casts, and painting sweaty faces. I managed the lower schoolers backstage for the day long talent show, collected tickets, settled line disputes for the rides, and worked the dunking booth. All in the same day. My muscles ached the next day after running around the campus from one volunteer slot to the other and from the tension of facing my icy-water fate delivered at the hands of sugar-hyped adolescents. I would go home that night, NEVER cook dinner, and sleep it all off until next year. Life resumed as normal the next morning. Looking back now, the past year was like Big Saturday but for 8 months, not 8 hours, and the next day is not feeling normal in any way. There was zero way to prepare myself for what life would be like without her.... One teenager grunts in return to my coffee-induced exuberance at daybreak. One set of items to account for before school. One set of reminders shouted out from the front porch as One car backs out of the driveway One bed to make and One set of clothes to wash. One vegetable at dinner that needs to be made to ensure it is eaten. One set of HW to manage. One argument over the use of technology. One kiss on One forehead at night. My boy was born less than 2 years after my girl, and life blew up with busy-ness. I remember saying at the time I didn’t know how easy it was with one toddler, not two. 18 years later - wow - it IS easier with just one at home! Plus at 17 he can drive AND wipe his own butt... Somewhere along the line, probably the second day after my daughter was born, it became clear that a Busy Mama is seen as a Loving Mama, a Good Mama. I like to think that I have been able to maintain a healthy level of busy-ness both for me and for my two kids. I had enough going on myself to never really cross the line into the territory of “That Mama” (most days). But I have been conditioned to live with a sustained, slightly frantic level of busy-ness that has ebbed and flowed over the years. Even when one aspect of life got easier (I remember that FIRST summer when both babies could swim in the shallow end of the pool without me, and I could stretch out with People and read more than 3 words in one sitting) something else snuck in to level it all out again (diving board shenanigans - bye bye People - it was fun while it lasted). I am determined to embrace my slower mental and physical pace of life. I don’t know if it is PTSD or muscle memory, but it turns out that it is easier said than done. There are ALOT of temptations for some daughter-centered busy-ness . A lot. Enough that I think I will save all of that for Phase III. Hotty Toddy and Go Rebs!
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  Blockers, the movie, has a scene where the daughter goes off to college and leaves her Mama behind. Let me start with a very important disclaimer - this is all about ME. This is my emotional rabbit hole. My emotional collapse, and my pity party, I own it. I am going to revel in it. I deserve it. And I will NOT be talked out of it.
Like so many of us, for the past 18 years I have been, first and foremost, The Mama. I have choked back my own vomit when thrown up on and swallowed my tears when hers flowed. I’ve done my best to keep my shit together when angry. I have been the butt of jokes and the receiver of eye rolls. I’ve picked up empty plates and glasses and gladly brought ones refilled right back to her. My grocery shopping included her favorite foods of the moment and clothing shopping was nearly life-ending - for both of us. Deep down inside my broken Mama heart, I know all of these things will never change (although the vomiting may come from a different source than a stomach bug...rum punch never is a good idea, girlie). I also know everything will come at me less often. I will still have chances to play The Mama in person on school breaks, weekends visiting her at school, and maybe during a summer or two, but this is the end of her being totally mine. MIne! Mine! MIne! THAT is what is excruciating to me right now. And honestly, I do not care that she is ready. I do not care that I am ready. I do not care that this is how it is supposed to go and that I would be really sad if she wasn’t off living her life. I do not care. This sucks. I am going to take a few days (maybe a week or so) to enjoy my emotional collapse. Every single first and every single last in the life of my daughter was simply toughening me up for the moment I had to let go of hugging her neck and actually walk, not stumble or crawl, to my car and leave her on the mean streets of Oxford, MS. I clung to my pride of not cracking yet and was hell bent to hold on - and I did. I have one more sweet child poised to shatter my heart in 2 short years so I kept the ugly cry and snot inside for a bit longer. I took him to visit 2 schools on our way home, the whole time willing him to only ever love Ole MIss so my babies could spend another two years together, and I could move to Oxford, MS and do their laundry for them. I may have said it out loud to him, as well. I forgive myself for that one…. The pictures I will always treasure of her move-in day (a.k.a. “move out of my life day”) captured our smiling faces - and those are REAL. Really real. I fed off of her excitement and suppressed any and every urge to go nostalgic. She set the tone for the day, and all her people followed suit. We laughed and joked, and I lived in sweet, sweet denial for those last 12 hours. And I am so glad that I did - for her, her brother and for me. This sucks. I plan to push my emotional collapse to the brink for as long as I see fit - then all will be right with the world. But until then, I am going to drink some wine, eat canned frosting from the can, cry some ugly tears, go way too deep into old pictures, and mourn this unbelievably difficult shift that has happened to ME. Don’t feel sorry for me. Not one bit. Other mamas may be far less emotional, some might be worse (although I will go toe-to-toe with anyone who can spiral out better than I can…). What you can do for all of us shattered women right now is hug OUR necks and maybe just whisper softly to us “This sucks….” The Epilogue. I thought I took care of everything. New checking account with no direct line to my funds, a monthly stipend via Venmo, rules for Amazon Prime, a meal plan. We bought school supplies, new underwear (dear GOD by the way), an abundance of snacks and (non-alcoholic) drinks. Uber. Dammit. Four emails announcing booked rides. Two missed calls at 12:45 am. $80 worth of Uber charges. Nothing like a reminder that, in fact, I am still The Mama (or at least my credit card)! My daughter needs me - this is awesome! (remember it is all about me right now). She still needs me!!! I am desperate to find out the down low on how exactly one accrues $80 of Uber charges in a town that is literally a square mile. And shut the joint Uber account shit DOWN. So I wait for the first phone call. Without even asking she reveals all … rumors of a local police smackdown and a bizillion citations being issued caused some freshman girl panic. (a-MEN sister!!!) Itchy to do something on their first night of collegiate freedom, they call an Uber to get some late night food. Something goes wrong and they cancel the first car. Cha-Ching. Another request and another miss. Cha-Ching. Third time's the charm. For a big ‘ole Black Cadillac SUV…. to go to the Circle K .83 miles away! TWICE! For Sour Patch Kids and Cheetos! This is THE BEST $80 I have ever spent! Epilogue 2 I cut that Uber umbilical cord. Epilogue 3 It turns out that life does, in fact, go on. Madden 2018 is still here and still all consuming for the boy. The golf course seems to call to his soul far more than the unfinished summer reading. And tomorrow my daytime hours promise to be all mine again. I do believe The Mama is turning the corner... |
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