It's a new may

So I was sitting in a big round wicker chair in my daughter's apartment last night thinking... wow... this is a brand new May. Never before have I had a May like this one. Our little girl is getting ready to graduate from college and enter the workforce (the real one, rather than the one she's been in since she was 16 - Rave, EOC, Gap, WTS, Casa). Btw, she would really like to live/work in the INDIANAPOLIS area if anyone KNOWS OF ANY JOBS AVAILABLE for a bright, young, energetic, amazinly talented graduate of Huntington University with a BA in Public Relations, minor in Communication Studies, emphasis in marketing and journalism (I think that's what her blog said).

I was kinda just taken back for a moment - eating the lemon bars she made, seeing her bills on the table, checking out her furniture, the notes on the refrigerator, etc. It was like, 'Oh my gosh, this is real.' And she is so cool about everything. Amazing. That's what she is. It seems like only yesterday I was taking her with me to the Boondocks Saloon where she would climb up the stool and sip her orange juice. Or the time I chased her balloon across the cornfield, or put together her Barbie playhouse. She was the cutest girl in the world when she had her first dance with Anson Murray as the kindergarten attendant at Bureau Valley's Homecoming. All those tumbling practices where I sat with all the moms and waited for her jaunt down the mat. I can still remember the first time boys came knocking on our door at the start of middle school at Liberty Benton. Watching her pretend to play her trumpet during band. :) Volleyball, track, going to Jack 'n Do's. Then the move to FW - new boys calling, more volleyball games, proms and ponytails and car accidents, and trips to the school to bring her whatever she forgot... and I loved it all. And wasn't it just last week that she graduated from high school? That was perhaps the most emotional time of my life. Ahhh, I could go on, but it's almost too much. I could say she's the prettiest girl in the world, but that's not even the half of it. If I were going to run a company I would want her on the board of directors; if I needed to sell something she would be my top salesperson; if I needed to get something done she would be the one I'd depend on. Beauty, brains, charm, confidence, competence, and for such a teeny thing - not just a bit of brute strength to boot. She could whip most guys 3 times her size.

Well, I didn't intend for this post to be quite like this. But I am proud of you, sweetheart. The world is your stage. I love you.

And heck... I haven't even gotten around to Isaac, who completed his first year of college yesterday, built incredible relationships at AU, and with the homeless of Indy, and the boys at the prison he visits weekly. Tomorrow we're helping him move. But not back home. He's moving into an old school building to start an internship at his church. Of course first there is the trip to Florida. I could go on and on about him too, but this post is getting a bit long. Maybe when you graduate, bud. :)

At any rate, thank You, Lord, for blessing me with a wonderful wife, great kids, and a hope for tomorrow. This May will be like none I've ever faced before: watching my children move away, no one home for the summer, and who knows what else. I have a homesickness this morning like none I've had before. I'm not sure how to explain it, but maybe it's due to the fact that I'm not quite sure where home is right now. I was born a long way from this moment, and I can't tell if I'm getting closer or not. But I know You are here, and you will be there, wherever that may be.

Peace.