Abigail and I had a lovely trip into Cabots Circus today. Lunch was at the Gourmet Burger Kitchen and it was delicious. We browsed round Harvey Nichols and drooled a little in the Apple store, clothes were tried on and experiences shared.
It occurred to me yesterday that Abbie is leaving home tomorrow. She is returning to Oxford where she has lived for the best part of 4 years, when she wasn’t in Cheltenham or Canada. Now this isn’t an unusual occurrence. But what is unusual is that when she finishes at University in the summer, she is likely to find somewhere to live around Oxford, she will come to visit us but won’t be staying like this time. She is moving on and “Slipping through my fingers”. It is lovely to watch and hear about the life and goings on of this lovely young women.
So although she is not just off to school as in the song below, the sentiments are the same for me. I have always felt excited about my children going off in their lives, I love to see them growing and developing and forging their own way in life, from that first moment leaving them at playschool, through to starting school, going off to 6th form boarding school then to University. That excitement in my children’s lives has always over ridden anything I might have felt in the negative. I haven’t felt the ’empty nest syndrome’ that I have heard about, perhaps until now. I don’t think I will have time for ’empty nest syndrome’ but it will be intersting to see how I feel about this situation as the year goes on. I am always in touch with them when they are away, modern communication is so easy and video chats are common place, they are often in my living room, or texting when I am out. I am sure this will continue and as we all go about our lives in this latest chapter, we will be in touch, sharing our excitements and dissapointments over a cup of tea whether via electronics or through regular visits. Life is good.
Schoolbag in hand, she leaves home in the early morning
Waving goodbye with an absent-minded smile
I watch her go with a surge of that well-known sadness
And I have to sit down for a while
The feeling that I’m losing her forever
And without really entering her world
I’m glad whenever I can share her laughter
That funny little girl
Slipping through my fingers all the time
I try to capture every minute
The feeling in it
Slipping through my fingers all the time
Do I really see what’s in her mind
Each time I think I’m close to knowing
She keeps on growing
Slipping through my fingers all the time
Sleep in our eyes, her and me at the breakfast table
Barely awake, I let precious time go by
Then when she’s gone there’s that odd melancholy feeling
And a sense of guilt I can’t deny
What happened to the wonderful adventures
The places I had planned for us to go
(slipping through my fingers all the time)
Well, some of that we did but most we didn’t
And why I just don’t know
Slipping through my fingers all the time
I try to capture every minute
The feeling in it
Slipping through my fingers all the time
Do I really see what’s in her mind
Each time I think I’m close to knowing
She keeps on growing
Slipping through my fingers all the time
Sometimes I wish that I could freeze the picture
And save it from the funny tricks of time
Slipping through my fingers…
Slipping through my fingers all the time
Schoolbag in hand she leaves home in the early morning
Waving goodbye with an absent-minded smile…
I first heard this in Mama Mia the film, it brought tears to my eyes and to the eyes of my friends, it is just so pertinent in the lives of Mums.