It’s prom season. And I am about to snap my last prom pic. My man in training is a senior and at this time next year he will be coming home from his first year of college. How did this happen?
How did my boy go from wearing the same Red Sox t-shirt 5 days in a row to finding it necessary to take 5 showers a day?
How did he go from driving his tricycle down the steep slope of our driveway to driving his own car around town, sometimes a little too fast?
How did he go from bouncing up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed every morning to dragging himself out of bed hoping to make it to class on time?
How did he go from this quiet little munchkin who hardly said a word to this class leader who voices his opinion about everything?
How did he go from a scruffy boy with grass-stained knees and a dirty face, roughhousing in the yard with his buddies to this dapper young man standing in a stranger’s yard dressed to the nines in a tux and tie with his arms around his life-long friends?
How did he go from holding my hand as we walked down the street to holding this lovely young lady’s hand as they go off off on their own for this last high school dance?
How did I go from being his world to being left in his wake?
As he drives off with his girlfriend to join his buddies at the prom, I realize how lucky I am to have been here to watch these changes, these ups and downs, the forks in the roads, the difficult decisions. Too soon he will be on his own and I will miss it all. I will miss him.
Have fun tonight, my son. Drive safely.