Suds in the Bucket...

There is a country song that has the line "How could 18 years just up and walk away?  She left the suds in the bucket and clothes hanging out on the line..."  And that line "How could 18 years just up and walk away..." has brought me to tears several times this week as my second son packed up his room and all his stuff, then loaded it in his car and left on a new adventure...

So I think of the mom of the Three Little Pigs, who went her 3 pigs out into the world to find their fortune.  Each pig took a different path, built a different life, but in the end, they all ended up together in the same house.  So, not that I want all my kids back in the same house...  but they do come back, right?  :)

Dallin backing down the driveway.

Here's the thing.  Eighteen year olds who aren't sure about their life plan (should I go on a mission? should I go to school? should I join the military?) should launch.  So that's what we helped do as parents.  We said, here are some options...  what do you choose?  And Dallin said, "Hey, this moving to Provo and getting a job thing sounds like the adventure I am craving" (because, don't you know, 18 year old boys who've graduated from High School crave some sort of adventure).

Here's another thing.  Don't ever think for a second you have it all figured out.  I had a plan for Dallin.  It was the same plan I had for Robbie.  But it never dawned on me that Dallin wouldn't want to follow that plan.  So what will Jordon's plan be?  And Charli and Cadie and Cami's?  Launch.  The rest is in Heavenly Father's hands.  He knows their plan.  He knows what experiences and grand adventures and trials they need to help them become amazing adults.  As parents, we helped pave the way.  We teach them to have faith, to pray, to serve others.  We teach them to work hard, to save money, to earn money.  We teach them all we know to do and then we have to let them launch.

Let them go.  Let them live.  Let them make their own choices and decisions and even mistakes.  It's harder than it looks.  Open your hands and let them fly.  Launch.  Suds in the bucket.  Gone in the blink of an eye.

Launch, DallyWally!  The girls said the bright light over his head was his guardian angels, preparing for his journey!