Letting Go

In my previous post I referred to the Fiddler On the Roof production put on by Roberta Jones Junior Theater. I'm not a person who cries easily at movies or plays. Yet I felt teary a few times last night. As I reflected on it they were all scenes that dealt with Tevye letting go of his daughters. The idea of watching your children mature and then stepping back as they walk away is still an odd thing. It was easier for me to do than it is to think about having done it. As mothers we spend time worrying and trying to make things easy for our children so they will have a happy life. That's all any of us wants; for the people we love to be happy. But there are certainly no guarantees in life so even if I could have changed the way things have turned out for my children I don't think I would. During the last scene Tevye talks about each of the 3 daughters and after he laments each one's plight he says "...but she's happy ...she couldn't be happier. So despite the sadness it creates to watch your children leave the mother in me only wishes for my children's happiness. And then I wonder - is this the grief that my father and I share each time we leave each other? We hold on to each other knowing that in seconds we will be ripped apart because the car or plane is waiting. He watches me walking away and his only wish is for my happiness.