Saying Goodbye

Good morning all. Get your coffee,if you haven't had it. Me, I don't need any. I have been up since before the chickens! Why, you ask? Well read my poem and then perhaps you will understand my dilemma.

Yesterday, when I hugged my daughter
And told her goodbye
She hugged me back and asked me
If I were going to cry.

I told her, "No, Momma's a big girl"
Folks, that was my baby talking to me
She was trying to make me feel better
And she succeeded because it let me
Know that she was not bothered about
The big girl step she had taken
Her words reassured me and
I was less shaken.

I went on out of the door and I did not look back because I wanted to remember the smile on her face as she told me that was going to act nice. Those are the words that I always said to her whenever I would drop her off at her school when she was still a student. She has had her first night away from home, except for when she used to spend an occasional night with my mother. I did not hear from her last evening, and I did not expect to. I still wondered how she was faring though. If I hear nothing today, then I can assume that she is making the adjustment about as well as can be expected. I had  always heard that special needs clients do much better when they are not around their parents.

Well, this is a choice that
She has made to have her own
Apartment, along with another girl
With staff present around the clock
But, I must admit that when she first mentioned
The idea, it gave me quite a shock.

She said to me, in a big girl voice
That it was time for her to
Have a place  of her own
Just like her brother did
That's when I did a double take
And realized, she was no longer a kid.

For Pondering:

1. Why do you think that the word, "me" is in bold print in line 7?
2. Who seems to be having the toughest time adjusting to the, "Saying goodbye" the daughter or the Mother or neither? Substantiate your answer.
3. Who do you identify with more, daughter or mother? Why?
4. What do you think the next week or so will be like for the daughter? The mother?
5. What do you think will be the long- range outcome of the situation?

Doing What I Can, While I Can
Alma Jones