Lynda Loveland: Parental growing pains

Do you ever have those moments when you’re completely overcome with emotion regarding your kids and it comes totally out of the blue?

Sure it can happen at things like graduations, performances and games, etc. But this one happened while I was standing in my daughter’s room, talking to her about her school’s Halloween dance. She was going as a werewolf. Masks weren’t allowed so she painted her face.

As she was getting dressed, suddenly, I didn’t see my 11-year-old daughter anymore. It was as though her face paint hid her identity. What I saw were behaviors and mannerisms and the speech of a maturing young lady!

This was a different person I was seeing! Without warning, my eyes filled with tears. I had to walk out of the room. In the space of 20 seconds, I saw her for who she was becoming and who she was leaving behind.