“Mommm, Can you leave please?”
This weekend my oldest attended 4-H camp for the first time. It was fun to see her giggling with her friends and learning new skills.
As odd as it sounds, I love hearing my daughter ask me to leave when she wants to do things on her own. It makes me proud to see her becoming independent. Each new stage is full of amazing firsts, and bittersweet lasts: first steps, last midnight feeding, first day of school, last time playing with a favored toy.
There is a part of me that will always fondly remember the needy toddler stage, where this same girl literally clung to my skirt for support, but it is so much more rewarding to see her no longer needing me. To see her growing into a young lady.
So I’ll sit, exiled from the room, yet not permitted to wander too far away lest she suddenly decide that she doesn’t want to be independent today after all. I’ll be here, chatting with all the other exiled moms, and looking to my girl for direction as to whether this afternoon is going to be a “please hold my hand” moment or a “Mommm go” moment.
Is this a first step or a last? I’m not sure, but either way she is doing a fantastic job of growing up and makes me very proud.
Someone pass the tissues. 
