youthful energy on a hike on the last day of schoolIn one week Caroline, our youngest daughter will graduate from high school. My wife and I will earn that over used label, which illustrates the conclusion of a most important portion of the parental enterprise:  we will become empty nesters.

The smell of lilacs and the warm breezes of May evoke childhood memories of the much anticipated summer vacation following a long school year.  As an active celebration on the final day of school, every year, while my kids were younger,  in grade school and the first year of high school,  I would meet them on the playground/parking lot of the school,  and set out on a day long ramble back home, guided by a predetermined route I picked earlier in the month.  I wrote an essay for the Appleton Post Crescent back in 2012, a week before the final hike.  Caroline was a freshman.  I felt compelled to post that essay here again,  3 years later…

The Hike5

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As we all keep moving  forward, I am glad I walked with them back then,  when a sanctuary of high spirited innocence abounded.  There is now plenty of time for adult life to take over.

 

 

Plans & Dreams

 

 

 

 

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