Slipping Through My Fingers - the title of the Abba song featured in the movie Mamma Mia which is guaranteed to make most mothers cry, especially if like me you have teenage daughters.
Last night I sat with my daughter, cross-legged together on my bed as she enrolled in university and signed her halls contract. It was a big moment.
It seems only five minutes ago she was "a funny little girl" fiercely independent and not interested in the sort of relationship I'd hoped for from a daughter. No dainty hair accessories, pink stuff or makeup for her - she wasn't and never will be a girly girl.
But she's grown up into a woman I'm so so proud of. Quirky yes, inscrutable sometimes and still as stubborn as the proverbial mule but witty, clever and mad as a box of frogs.
Instead of plaiting her hair I shave it and dye it and we go shopping together laughing the whole time as we head away from fashion boutiques and into comic book stores and record shops usually along with my younger daughter who is different but equally independent and mistress of her own style.
I adore my boys but am still glad I had a couple of girls. They say "A son is a son til he takes a wife, a daughter is your daughter for the rest of your life." I'm not sure that's true as my son's partner is a gem who very much ensures he maintains a close relationship with me. Maybe I'll be lucky.
But for now she is off to Uni and I shall miss her so very very much. It brings it home to me that all my children are growing up so fast my years of hands on parenting will be over before I know it.
"Slipping through my fingers all the time, I try to capture every minute, the feeling in it slipping through my fingers all the time."
Last night I sat with my daughter, cross-legged together on my bed as she enrolled in university and signed her halls contract. It was a big moment.
It seems only five minutes ago she was "a funny little girl" fiercely independent and not interested in the sort of relationship I'd hoped for from a daughter. No dainty hair accessories, pink stuff or makeup for her - she wasn't and never will be a girly girl.
But she's grown up into a woman I'm so so proud of. Quirky yes, inscrutable sometimes and still as stubborn as the proverbial mule but witty, clever and mad as a box of frogs.
Instead of plaiting her hair I shave it and dye it and we go shopping together laughing the whole time as we head away from fashion boutiques and into comic book stores and record shops usually along with my younger daughter who is different but equally independent and mistress of her own style.
I adore my boys but am still glad I had a couple of girls. They say "A son is a son til he takes a wife, a daughter is your daughter for the rest of your life." I'm not sure that's true as my son's partner is a gem who very much ensures he maintains a close relationship with me. Maybe I'll be lucky.
But for now she is off to Uni and I shall miss her so very very much. It brings it home to me that all my children are growing up so fast my years of hands on parenting will be over before I know it.
"Slipping through my fingers all the time, I try to capture every minute, the feeling in it slipping through my fingers all the time."