{"id":1489,"date":"2009-02-02T09:23:16","date_gmt":"2009-02-02T14:23:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/girlwpen.com\/?p=1489"},"modified":"2009-02-02T09:23:16","modified_gmt":"2009-02-02T14:23:16","slug":"family-stories-blogger-unblocked-a-mothers-lament","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/2009\/02\/02\/family-stories-blogger-unblocked-a-mothers-lament\/","title":{"rendered":"FAMILY STORIES: Blogger Unblocked, A Mother’s Lament"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"I return after a most serious case of blogger\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s block (yes, there is such a thing \u00e2\u20ac\u201c wikipedia entry and all.) Initially, I thought it was just a post holiday digging out from all that gets put aside, but, no, I simply couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t sit down to write.<\/p>\n

I now know that when this happens to me there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s something brewing personally.\u00c2\u00a0 My writing does tend to be reflexive \u00e2\u20ac\u201c its just where I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m at these days.\u00c2\u00a0 Perhaps a result of turning 50.<\/p>\n

I am on the NY thruway again, and I am crying.\u00c2\u00a0 I have just left my daughter, Lauren, once my very little girl, now a smart, funny, loveable young woman, to embark upon the adventures of her last semester of senior year in high school. I have had a very unusual high school experience with Lauren because she has attended a fabulous all-girl boarding school, Emma Willard,<\/a> in Troy, NY. How\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s this for a tag line?: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Since 1814, empowering girls who transform the world.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 Alums include Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1832), Jane Fonda (1955), and Kirsten Gillibrand (1984), (and my daughter, 2009!)<\/p>\n

So, while other parents of teenagers have been dealing with curfews and parties, I have had the relative ease of knowing she is safe \u00e2\u20ac\u201c surrounded by friends, houseparents and a faculty that have cultivated her extraordinary talents and focused her strengths.<\/p>\n

I can no longer suspend the terrible truth. And it is just this: Next year, she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll be a freshman in college.<\/p>\n

Now I know what you might be thinking\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6.that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what supposed to happen, isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t it?<\/p>\n

Yes.\u00c2\u00a0 And she is well prepared, mature, enthusiastic. But, I wonder, will she be safe?
\n<\/p>\n

My worries about what happens to young women in college are born, no doubt, from the many stories I have heard over the years in my clinical practice. Stories of tragedy and trauma, of assault, rape. I cringe just writing these words and thinking of my daughter in the same sentence.<\/p>\n

It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a very odd thing, this parenting.\u00c2\u00a0 We are responsible for every need, seemingly every breath, when they are infants; then those days of infinite closeness and safety melt away as they grow.\u00c2\u00a0 But if we are lucky, it is still a charmed existence:\u00c2\u00a0 springtime softball, autumn costumes, pure holiday magic.<\/p>\n

Then, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re supposed to let them go.<\/p>\n

It sneeks up at first\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6..overnights with a friend, middle school dances.<\/p>\n

Then the really big ones: driving and college. How are we supposed to just let them drive away after tucking them in every night for years upon years?<\/p>\n

Parenting is not for the faint of heart.<\/p>\n

So, for now I will rest easy in the knowledge that Lauren is in good care \u00e2\u20ac\u201c she is safe.<\/p>\n

And as all parenting goes, that too will change.\u00c2\u00a0 And I will adjust.\u00c2\u00a0 But that will be the hardest of transitions for this Mom. (aka now unblocked mommablogger).<\/p>\n

PS I would recommend the following link to deal your own bloggersblock: http:\/\/www.problogger.net\/battling-bloggers-block\/<\/a>.\u00c2\u00a0 One of the suggestions offered was to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Take Questions\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 and I wanted to put that out to GWP readers.\u00c2\u00a0 Any questions about family life you might want me to address? Let me know, and we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll start a conversation!<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I return after a most serious case of blogger\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s block (yes, there is such a thing \u00e2\u20ac\u201c wikipedia entry and all.) Initially, I thought it was just a post holiday digging out from all that gets put aside, but, no, I simply couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t sit down to write. I now know that when this happens to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1913,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[3109],"class_list":["post-1489","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-motherhood"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1489","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1913"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1489"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1489\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}