How Do You Make Peace With Letting Go?

Four trips to Target, one to Staples, one to HomeGoods, one to the supermarket. Then a tearful hug and then back to return the car.

I often think about the Hemingway line, which is true for so many things … life happens gradually, then suddenly.

For my son’s dorm we planned a fully lofted bed, more floor space, more storage. Best laid plans;) Two hours in it didn’t fit, too tight to actually live in, so we tore the whole thing apart and rebuilt it as a half loft. Then fought a bunk bed for another hour trying to lower it the wrong way before finding some help. A few remnants — sore backs, a nearly smashed finger and a banged head.

To the annoyance of my family, I kept telling stories that I had long forgotten about my own freshman dorm: same floor, directly above the band room (this despite I was not musical). I can still hear the song they played every weekend morning (sigh). They say that you re-live your youth through your kids and that was certainly true this past week.

Then we said goodbye and drove off, and that was that. From here I don’t get to counsel as much, the loft may be the end (or at least at for some time).

You build and work on something, coach someone, then eventually you let go and trust it plays out without your oversight. Many relationships and partnerships seems to work that way eventually, and relearning it never quite gets easier.

Grief and excitement tangled together, whether it’s your kid or a company or a just a life chapter that comes to an end.

Things happen slowly and suddenly – I find that sometimes hard emotionally and logically, but its how life goes. How do you make peace with it?