Turning the Page

These past few months have been like reading the end of good book.  One of those books with 1200 pages that you have invested so much time in.  One of those books where you come to know and love the characters so much that you feel they are real.  You've been through their highs and lows, laughed and cried with them, watched they grow and change. Then you get to the last page and you don't want to turn it just yet because you don't want it all to be over.

That's how I have been feeling about the past few months.  I knew I was coming to the end of a certain phase of parenthood.  

I watched Annie march in her last parade.

I watched as she played in her last Hartt Wind Ensemble.

I watched as she played her last solo in the EHS jazz band.

I watched as she passed her last baton in track.

And I watched as she walked off to her last prom.

With graduation just around the corner, I knew this phase of parenting was coming to an end.  I was coming to the end of a very long, emotional, consuming book.  I would turn the last page soon.

 But,

mixed among all of these "lasts" was a "first".

At her last high school band concert, Annie conducted for the first time.

She took her first of many bows to come in a new role.

That is in the next book of my life, however.

And I can't wait to read it!