School starts next week, which means my oldest daughter starts middle school. Today we went shopping as a family for "locker stuff", which included a shelf for books, a mirror, a small dry erase pad and some other assorted very girly looking magnets and doo-dads. Then it was off to the school so she could try her locker again and put everything in it the way she wanted. It was a short outing, but she was excited, and happy that she now has a locker that looks like Paris Hilton lives there. Mission accomplished.
Her locker measures only 14" x 14" x 36". It's barely 3 cubic feet of space, but for the next 10 months it's her little outpost away from home. Actually, it's her very first outpost away from home, and frankly, I'm not happy about it for good reason.
Middle school lockers turn into high school lockers - larger outposts away from home. Then comes a car, another volume of space not under my roof that she'll call her own. From there it's very short hop to dorm rooms - even larger outposts away from home. They keep getting bigger, and the time spent in them increases.
I figure you can see where this is headed by now. Sad, yes, but also a reminder that there's lots of "daddy stuff" to take care of as the days pass. There are so many lessons to be passed along, so many experiences to share, and so many memories to be made. This sort of thing reminds me that we're always painfully short on time, but motivates me to be the best parent I can be. If that means letting them roller skate in the dining room on the new hardwood floors, then so be it. Sometimes it will mean making someone do homework that they just dont want to do. At some point it will mean getting involved in boyfriend issues, and likely and being the meanest dad in the word. So be that too, I guess. Regardless of what lies ahead, instead of being sad I'm going to be happy for what I've had up to this point and for all that lies ahead.
However, one day, the inevitable will happen, and "home" will no longer be where I live. The swingset will have long been forgotten, the pool won't get used much any more, and we'll have to find a new use for all the suddenly "extra" space in the house. Life will get quieter.
There will be no more outposts.
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