Happy Mother's Day--To Me and You

It is an especially poignant Mother's Day for me. My son, my one and only child, is graduating from high school next month and will likely be going to a university far, far away in the fall.

What will it be like, I wonder, to celebrate Mother's Day for the first time when your child is no longer living at home?

On the one hand, I'm not looking forward to it; no, not at all. As families go, ours is absurdly functional in that we get on very well, make each other laugh (I've been saying "you crack me up" to my son almost since the get-go) and actually enjoy one another's company.

On the other hand, I can't help but think that my son's confidence and sense of independence are traits that we as parents helped inculcate, and they will stand him in good stead in his voyage through life.

And with that I'd like to wish a Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there--to the empty nesters and to those still in the throes of child rearing. To the latter I'd like to say enjoy it while it lasts, because it'll be over before you know it.

And, if you're like me, before you're ready for the next less hands-on and more long distance stage of motherhood.