Parenting as a Portal

Both Craig and I agree that parenting is about serving as a portal for our children. The way I see it, it's my job to provide the entry and platform for them to step into their own lives. They don't belong to me and they are independent little creatures who I am responsible for. As Kahlil Gibran says, parents should consider themselves the bows from which their sons and daughters were sent forth as living arrows.
I will always provide love and support and encouragement regardless of their age, but I can see how a successful parent watches their children from somewhat of a distance if they've done their job well. It's kind of like working myself out of a job. If I provide Lucas and Mya with everything they need to be fulfilled little souls, then they will move farther and farther away from me as they age. They will have much to offer to the world and their tie to me is not intended to hold them in one place. It's a bittersweet role isn't it?
I recognized when Lucas was little that it was a challenging lesson to learn how to distance ourselves. It is both of our responsibilities to learn how to function better and better without the other one around. Now, I am gearing up to begin the distancing from Mya. As I deliver her beautiful little self into the world in July, I will have to adjust to her absence from my body. These days, she squiggles and squirms around and it directly affects me. Soon, I will no longer feel her movements so keenly. It's one of the biggest paradoxes of my life; after I deliver Mya I will adjust to a great loss while I simultaneously embrace a huge gain. What an experience!