This Bird Has Flown
1000 internet years ago (which is like 18 years in human years), my greatest internet pain and joy was reading “Bringing Up Ben and Birdy.” The author blogged for Babycenter—remember when websites had in-house blogging columns because blogging was the next! big! thing?
It felt so intimate to read something akin to a person’s diary on the web. And it was so incredibly painful because she was clearly successful in building her family, and I was not. Reading it was like picking at a scab on my heart.
After Babycenter shuttered the column—around the same time I started this blog in 2006, I think—she moved over to a blogspot site that I’ve read ever since. Birdy was a few years older than the twins at that point. Last week, Catherine (the author) wrote about Birdy leaving for college, posting about back when she dropped off Ben.
Picking at the scab on my heart again.
He came into our lives two weeks late, but now he’s leaving right on time, and we’re supposed to graciously show him the door. We’ve been running alongside his bike for 18 years and we’re supposed to wave cheerfully as he turns into a pedaling speck in the distance.
Cue tears.
2 comments
I moved my daughter in to her freshman dorm on Friday. I miss her so much already but I am happy for her as she begins the next chapter. She calls me to let me know how she is doing, what new friends she is meeting and what orientation activities she is doing. She is very happy and that makes my heart happy too.
Nice Beatles reference in title…
The pandemic has temporarily paused my freaking out about how fast time is going (my oldest is in 5th grade). Then again, the way things are going, she may be attending college remotely 8 years from now 😔