varn.dev

My son starts high school this week, a bizarre sentence to type that I’m sure any parent can relate to. It felt like just yesterday I was dropping him off for pre-K and now here he is, taking the first step on the last step towards adulthood.

High school wasn’t great for me - I was small, quiet and most of my friends from middle school went to a different high school than I did, meaning starting over at a much bigger place with much different people and for the first couple of years it was pretty rough. Thankfully I found some stuff that I was interested in and ended up making a few lifelong friends in the process. But naturally, I worry about how things will go for my son, even though I have no reason to.

I’ve realized that being a parent is all about milestones. There are a lot when kids are born/little and gradually they get further apart, but it has always caught me off guard when they pop up, because it makes you look both back and forward as to where not only your child’s life is going, but also yours as well. And of course starting his next phase of life is important, and I’m excited for him, but it’s also bittersweet because it’s closer to him not being a kid, and me getting closer towards the latter stages of my life as well.

In the end I know he’s going to do great and be successful and hopefully continue on a path to happiness, because I’ve taken all of these years and steps to help him do just that. But I’ll always mark these milestones with a bit of a sigh at the passage of things, even as I’m smiling along with him.