I TOSSED AND TURNED LAST NIGHT, as if wrestling alligators in my sleep, although I dreamed of white rats.
Twice I got up, once to pop an Ibuprofen that I hoped would loosen the muscles in my shoulders that felt like taut, knotted ropes.
The drug worked its magic, if but briefly. I awoke this morning with tension pain still sweeping across my shoulders.
I expect that ache to linger, at least until I hear from my Argentine-bound daughter. She leaves in several hours from the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport bound for Houston and then for Buenos Aires.
I’ve made her promise to contact me as soon as possible, to assure me she’s safely reached her destination.
You would think by now that I would be used to this footloose, fancy-free life my second daughter leads. She’s been to Argentina before, lived there for six months while studying abroad and doing mission work. Prior to that, she traveled domestically, beginning in high school.
But this time it’s different. She’s on her own, arriving in Buenos Aires without a defined living space, without a defined schedule of activities, without parameters set by a university. She’ll stay in a hostel for awhile until she finds an apartment.
She’ll be a working woman, interning as a public relations assistant with a company that offers walking tours of the Argentine capital.
I worry that she won’t come home. She’s a Spanish major who loves South America. But my daughter assures me that she purchased a two-way ticket.
The practical, sensible mother in me wants her to stay here, in Minnesota (heck, I’d even settle for the Midwest, even the U.S.), and find a good-paying job (even just a job) to repay the college loans that will come due later this year.
But I must let her go, to follow her dreams, to take this adventure, now while she’s young and free.
© Copyright 2010 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
Minnesota Prairie Roots 
Oh no, is this what comes next? I will need more than ibuprofen. She will have the time of her life, and then she will realize how great home is.
Dana
Yes, dear Canadian mother of three daughters, this is what comes next if you allow your children to pursue their dreams and never hold them back. I had hope that my 16-year-old son would stick closer to home. But, alas, he too has experienced travel (on a Spanish class trip to Spain) and now it’s too late to keep him home.
I take consolation (and some pride) in knowing my children are fearless and adventuresome, something I am not. I purposely raised them to be this way, even though I knew it would be tough on me.
I cried my eyes out when my daughter left this morning. But I’m getting over it and my girl called from Houston, meaning I feel better now, if only I don’t ponder departure later this evening for Buenos Aires.
Children growing up is tough. We encourage them to be themselves and when they are, we have to face it. I suppose you were the same. After all, you did leave Vesta. I would love to be near my boys and their families. But than I am also the one who has been the one who has shown independence. Love you. Dorothy
I have always encouraged my children to be independent and adventuresome, while secretly wishing they weren’t. The selfish mother in me wants to keep them geographically close. The wise mother in me knows that would be unwise. They must pursue their goals and dreams, wherever that may be.
And, yes, Dorothy, you were a bit adventuresome, marrying a native Irishman and then living abroad for awhile.
Her life will be all the better – and richer – for this experience, as hard as it is to watch from an ever-growing distance.
Folks, Kristin should know. She’s one world traveler. Check out her candysandwich blog by clicking on the link in my blogroll.