The Year-Long Break-Up
Friday, October 2nd, 2009
I felt like a bit of a hypocrite during the move-in process this year. I vividly recall one mother catching my eye as she moved in her oldest son, and asking “Do you feel my pain? You look like you understand.” I smiled and nodded, deciding not to explain that my sons’ recent transitions were from the infant room to the toddler room, and from being the youngest in a cohort of many to being the oldest in his preschool class. They still come home to me at the end of the day and I still choose what they read and wear and consume.
As housing professionals, we speak of “helicopter parents” and hope that they will let go of their children. This is where I have to call myself out on neglecting to let go of a “baby” of my own.
I am breaking up with the student organization I have advised for the last seven years. Or at least that’s how I feel. But I’ve decided that I am going to take a full year to do it. Some would say this is dragging out the process, but for me it’s allowing me to savor each event and interaction one more time. I was in my first official committee meeting as a full-time hall director, in perhaps my second day at work at Ohio State, when a colleague asked me to co-advise the group with him because he had heard I loved musical theatre. Over the years, they have taken time and patience, as much of our work does, but they have also earned a significant space in my heart.
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