The Long Way Home

Photo: AnnieSpratt via Pixabay

This morning was one of those mornings when the blog topic wouldn't surface, and I didn't have time to mess around and let it simmer. Luckily, I came across a quote that resonated, capturing all of the topics that had floated to the surface, but felt either too bland or too personal on their own.

"There are two ways of getting home; and one of them is to stay there. The other is to walk round the whole world till we come back to the same place." (G. K. Chesterton)

As I prepare to make a trip home (to Jersey), my daughter is doing lab work in London. Just as my parents never went to four year colleges (my dad took night classes while working full time and raising a family) but I did, my husband and I never traveled abroad, but my daughter is.

And will. It's something she's wanted to do for as long as I can remember, and this London adventure, capped off by time as a lab assistant, is, in her mind, the first of many journeys. It's been a challenging one, too -- begun the day after the terrorist attack in Manchester, and spanning a time frame that included last weekend's London Bridge attack as well.

I've always prided myself on being good at giving my daughter wings. Most of the time it was easy because I wanted to raise an independent child, so I was certain that my job was to give her both roots and wings. Sometimes, it was incredibly challenging, and all I could do in the moment was talk the talk. This worked when she was little, but now that she's an intuitive young adult, she sees beyond the words. The combination of intuition and compassion in the young woman she's become makes it hard to keep much of anything a secret.

Today, as I prepare to revisit my roots, returning to the state that will always be home, no matter how long I live anywhere else, my daughter is spreading her wings. The parameters of her trip have clipped them a bit, and I won't even pretend that I'm sorry about that. As proud as I am of her independence, I am counting the days until she comes home.

Just as she is looking forward to the next adventure.