Letting our babies go

Today I let Sammie go to the community pool with a friend - with no grown-ups. The friend's mother drove them there and dropped them off. I suppose she is maybe of an age to do this. It's hard sometimes to differentiate between knowing she's not old enough and being overprotective. It is that way with the boys, too. It is a totally normal thing to do, is the idea I'm getting from the moms and kids around here. And I think they do it at a much younger age than almost-11, it sounds like. There are so many variables that go into this stuff, really. I mean, I could easily see dropping her off at the community pool in the neighborhood where her best friend, Christina lives, back in Texas. But you see, that feels familiar, it is a community pool. And then I have to say to myself, 'but Lisa, this was the community pool that she went to today'. Oh yeah. But, you see - I lived within a 10 mile radius for 99% of my life. So although it is big city, it is all familiar. And out here, things are very new and unfamiliar, and releasing your children to people and places in a new and unfamiliar town is HARD to do. But I did it. And just like they said they would be, they were home around 4:30. And she said there were lots of lifeguards. And she saw Patrick's best friend, who spends a lot of time in the summer there. So I guess it was okay. Hard on me, but, it was okay. All of these little baby steps, of letting our babies go ... can be so hard ....

But thank God they are baby steps.