Posted: 2/15/08
DOWN HOME:
A part of my heart now beats in Europe
The last I saw of Molly was just a tiny glimpse of her luscious blonde hair.
Even after we finished our hugs and kisses and waves goodbye, Joanna and I stood like statues outside airport security. We waited until we could see our youngest daughter no more.
Somewhere between “We’ll miss you,” and “I’ll be praying for you every day,” and “You’ll have a great time; I’m so jealous,” and “We’ll be in touch through IM and Skype,” and “Always travel in groups, and don’t stay anyplace where you don’t feel safe,” Jo and I realized saying goodbye to our kid was harder than we reckoned.
Of course, sending Molly abroad for a semester isn’t like shipping a child off to war or waving farewell to a daughter or son bound for missions in the Congo. But this was hard enough. This is our child, and she was about to be so far gone.
Truth be told, Jo and I have gotten comfortable in our “empty nest.” I never believed we would. The greatest, most amazing thing I’ve ever done is be a daddy. So, I agonized a full year before Lindsay, our oldest, left for college. I just couldn’t imagine life without girls under our roof—meeting me at the end of the day, laughing around the dinnertable, doing homework and watching TV. Making our place a home.
But Lindsay left for college, and then Molly followed. After that, Lindsay and Aaron moved to Florida. Each time, we adjusted.
Jo and I discovered we love each other even more than we did when babies started enlivening our home. Not only that, we’re still best friends, and we can have fun that doesn’t involve going someplace with a gaggle of girls.
Still, seeing one of them off to Europe for a semester was just plain hard. I think the Atlantic Ocean made the difference. Something about flying hours and hours across water makes the separation seem more, well, overwhelming.
But thank God for the Internet. Between IMing (instant messaging), looking at pictures Molly posts on Facebook and visiting through Skype (beats me how it works, but we talk through our computers), we’ve adjusted again.
Well, we still have to account for a seven-hour time difference. But what’s a little lost sleep when your kid’s far, far away?
Like the other times we’ve adjusted to separation, I’ve been coping by thinking about what a difference this trip is making in my daughter’s life. I’ve got 30 years on her, but her world is growing far beyond mine. If we couldn’t let her get up and go, we would diminish her possibilities.
Besides, if God didn’t intend for kids to see the world, God wouldn’t have invented suitcases and passports and jet airplanes.
And if God didn’t intend for parents to let them go, God wouldn’t have invented photos of those kids in exotic places and instant messaging. And prayer, lots of prayer.
–Marv Knox
We seek to connect God’s story and God’s people around the world. To learn more about God’s story, click here.
Send comments and feedback to Eric Black, our editor. For comments to be published, please specify “letter to the editor.” Maximum length for publication is 300 words.