They Should Call it Parent Dis-Orientation

I just sat in my seat in the auditorium staring at the screen and having a flashback.

I thought it was just going to be another one of those parent meetings that was on my calendar. I didn't give it much thought. However, upon the completion of the Power Point presentation the reality all of a sudden came crashing down.

I was at high school orientation. For MY daughter. And, as I looked at the final screen that said Class of 2014, I remember the same feelings flooding over me and I flashbacked to kindergarten orientation as if it were just a month ago.

I, too, had gone to kindergarten orientation with excitement and curiosity. During the lecture the principal went around the room and asked parents if this was their first, second, third, last child entering the Big K. I remember watching a lady try to compose herself and say it was her youngest of five kids going. I thought to myself "Thank you, God, that isn't me. I would be weeping opening if I was sending my last child to kindergarten". My turn came and when I said it was my first child, everyone nodded sympathetically and I could barely swallow the lump in my throat.

The same feeling gripped my heart last night. It dawned on me the next orientation I would be attending would be COLLEGE, PEOPLE!!!!! I sat in my seat hoping no one around me noticed my eyes filled with tears. In just a few short months I will have a high schooler. It almost felt surreal, like there was some sappy music playing in the background of my life as I hurried from the building with my head down and got into the safety of my van where I could process. Things seemed a little more normal on the drive home and I was focusing more on honors classes versus AP classes and whether she should give up an elective to take a study hall.

I arrived home, took one look at her and burst into tears.

So much for keeping myself held together like a normal human being. But then again, do moms ever qualify as "normal human beings"?