VIEWPOINT

By RALPH HARDIN

Evening Times Editor

Well, we’re one month away… (sad trombone noise).

Yes, one month from tomorrow, two things will happen: My youngest child and “baby” girl will turn 18 years old, and she will also graduate from high school.

While I am quite aware that the end goal when you have a kid is to raise them and then send them off into the world, it’s still going to be quite a one-two punch. We have had at least one kid in the house since 1994, so the idea that our children are all no longer children is going to be a big transition.

It might not be a super-harsh transition at first, since we’ll still have her at home for three more months before she ships up to the northwest corner of the state to begin college at the University of Arkansas, but pretty soon, my wife and I will be empty nesters for the first time since we were 21 and 20.

See VIEWPOINT, page A5 VIEWPOINT

From page A4

So, I’m not “sad” really… and it’s not like she’s going off to war. But it does feel like the end of a long chapter of our lives is finally coming to an end.

A while back, I saw a thing on the internet that said, “One day, you’ll look around and there won’t be anyone left to take to practice.”

And boy have we been to some practices over the years with our children: tee-ball, softball, basketball, football, soccer, band, choir, tennis, school play, church play, volleyball, piano, guitar… I’m pretty sure I’m forgetting something.

But one by one, the kids grew up. First, they got old enough to drive themselves to practice. Then, they grew up and moved out to do their own things, which, again, is cool but there is a little touch of “What do I do now?” when it comes to my wife and I just having each other at the house (based on the past 30 years of the rare occasions that we have had the house to our selves, “what do do” will probably involve a lot of eating and watching TV).

Our nest, of course, is not going to be completely empty, since we do have that grandson of ours available for Granna and Pop time just about anytime we want him.

And hey, he’ll be a year old in August, so only a few more years and I’ll have someone else to take to practice, or maybe even coach…

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