Friday, September 07, 2012

Time and Other Misconceptions

Well, the parties are still in full swing (my home still has tell tale signs of ours), but prom dresses are put away, classes done, tests completed, books turned in, announcements sent out, robes hanging up, stoles and cords distributed, dress and shoes ready, family members rolling in, and packing for France started...that can mean only one thing~Hannah GRADUATES TOMORROW!!!! I can hardly believe it!!!

That was my facebook post on May 25...

Three months later, all the party goers have embarked on their future journeys, whether it be college, work, or in my Hannah's case, a "gap year."

Since graduation and a ten-day stint in Europe, Hannah's summer has been spent working, fundraising and seeing as many people as she possibly fit into a 24-hour day. It seemed like it would last longer; but August 28 chased after us with a vengence, jumping on us before we were quite ready. 

It was on that day that Hannah packed up her life in two small suitcases (no easy chore by any stretch of the imagination) and boarded a plane to Matamata, New Zealand, slowed only by layovers in Los Angeles, California, and Brisbane, Australia. 
 
 
It is there that she will live for the next three months as a student for YWAM (Youth With a Mission) before embarking on an outreach somewhere in the Pacific during the next three months.
 
I passed by the piano this morning and it stopped me in my tracks. My mind had just processed the equation Hannah gone to New Zealand = silent piano...for 6 months. That's when the floodgates of thought opened up...

When she returns to us in February, she will be a new creature to us.  Yes, time will indeed change her, and we will be faced with a young lady who, though she has been an "adult" for more than a year now, will have grown physically, spiritually, mentally and academically without our daily presence.
 
When she returns, she'll have a better understanding of the events that sabatoged her senior year and the lessons to be learned from it.  She'll have more of an idea of God's next steps for her regarding college and her long-term future goals. 
 
Until then, she is on an exciting adventure, with nothing to hold her back, to go and to be all that she is meant to become...and I long to hear all that God reveals to and teaches her. I long to hear her thoughts and ideas. 
 
Most of all, I long to hear her voice and see her beautiful face via skype! What a wonderful invention this technology is!
 
In the meantime, I will be faced with the reality of her absence every time i pass by her clean room, face her empty chair at the dinner table...and walk by the silent piano.
 
As I reflect on the past years of infancy, toddlerhood, elementary and middle school, through these last years of high school, my cup runneth over with joy of having been privileged to watch her grow and blossom!

No comments:

Post a Comment