In the Wizard of Oz, Dorothy & her new friends venture into unknown territory saying, “Lions, & Tigers & Bears, oh my!”. Sometimes changes on the horizon can feel like that, full of fear, suspense, and excitement.

This Thursday our youngest child will graduate from high school and head off to college in September. Time to let go some more and trust her wings are strong enough to fly more on her own. Lately, I find myself remembering days when she and her brother were younger (and so was I!) Guess I’m in transition too. We parents forget that as our kids grow and change, so do we.

When the kids were little I used to sing to them at bedtime. One song that keeps returning to my memory lately is “Turn Around”.  Let’s see if I can remember the words.

“Where are you going, my little one, little one. Where are you going, my baby, my child? Turn around and you’re tiny, turn around and you’re grown, turn around and you’re a young man going out of the door. Turn around, turn around and you’re a young wife with babes of your own.”

I recall the kids didn’t want me to say “babes”, because that sounded like girlfriends.  They wanted me to say “babies”. So I said “babies” and smiled, amazed at such a young age they already knew what “babes” meant!

Well, here we go in just two days, watching our last child graduate from LA Unified School District. It’s been a long road. We’ve been fortunate to find good schools and good teachers most of the time.  Afterall, nothing is perfect.

Lots of changes, transitions, and transformations this year for our family. My husband recently retired after 27 years, our son graduated from college and is looking for work and just landed a part time job, our daughter is graduating from high school and will leave home for college soon, and I just officially launched a new parent coaching business!

By the way, my business “launched” successfully on June 11th at my first public presentation at the Santa Monica Library.  I look forward to doing more in the near future.

I will close with this from Fiddler on the Roof ~  “Is this the little girl I carried?  Is this the little boy at play? I don’t remember growing older, when did they? When did she get to be a beauty? When did he get to be so tall? Wasn’t it yesterday when they were small?

Sunrise, sunset, sunrise, sunset, swiftly fly the years! Seedlings turn overnight to sunflowers blossoming even as we gaze….. Sunrise, sunset, sunrise, sunset, swiftly fly the years! One season following another, laden with happiness and tears…..”

To Life! and to Transitions!!

Bye for now. Would you share some of your “transitions”?  How do you deal with change?