It’s been almost one whole week…one entire week since my daughter…my 22 year old daughter…graduated from college…yep…I survived four years of college…well…I guess she did too…I’m so proud of her…and I’m so proud of me…and my husband would be so proud of us too…if he were here today…but I know he is looking down on both of us and smiling.

“She did it,” I thought as she accepted her diploma among thousands of Penn State graduates last Sunday afternoon…yes…it was raining…and the weather was cold up in Happy Valley…”I did it too,” I thought as I congratulated myself and paid the final bursar bill(well…not exactly the last college bill ever…as I still have to cover the cost of her apartment until the lease is up in August…let’s not talk about that right now)…and we went out to dinner and had her celebratory good-bye to college life…and her honorary welcome into adulthood.

For the past 22 years I have been hovering…yes…I have been a hovering helicopter parent…hovering over her pre-school years…and her elemementary years…hovering over middle school and high school too…and then…and then…finally hovering over her college years…her four years of college…hovering when she didn’t get the perfect grades…hovering when college roommates caused mayhem…hovering when the boyfriends were good…and when relationships turned sour…hovering over formal dresses (I especially liked shopping for dresses and am sure this will continue)…hovering when she spent a semester abroad in Italy…hovering especially when she lost her cellphone during her semester abroad in Italy…yes…this helicopter parent did a whole lot of hovering over the past 22 years.

And now…now it is time to stop hovering…while my daughter is moving back home for awhile…that is until she finds a job…it is time to stop hovering (however…I will have to teach her to use the vaccuum cleaner attachments so she can vaccuum all the dust out of her room…that is before she gets a job and moves out again…so I can redecorate and turn it into my creative writing den…or my exercise room…well maybe I will use her brother’s room for the creative writing den when he leaves for college…and her room for my mindful meditation…whatever I decide…I still want it dust-free).

Yes…it’s time for the lift off…it’s time for my daughter to enter her first adulthood…to go out and find her true self…find her first job (which she will do…yes…I keep telling her there is a job with her name on it…and it might just be in NYC…and if it’s not the perfect job…she can always make a change…that’s what you do in your first adulthood).

It’s time for the lift off…yes..it’s time for my amazing, talented, beautiful daughter to enter her first adulthood…time to capture her true spirit…to determine her true strengths…to put one foot in front of the other and conquer the world…just like her helicopter mom did when she graduated almost 29 years ago.

And you know what…you know what…I want to say to my amazing, talented, beautiful daughter…don’t worry…because if you don’t make all your dreams come true the first time around…you can always make them happen in your second adulthood…yes…when you turn 50…the confusion and excitement start all over again…so don’t worry…just lift those wings on your first adulthood…because whatever you want to do…it’s all up to you.

Judi