Leaving Home

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Leaving Home

On the surface it was just like any other hot August day in Nashville,

but for me it was a day with mercurial-like emotions ranging from the

high of the excitement about my son's departure, to a mid-level of

nostalgia and memories, and finally to a low of sadness and emptiness.

My first born, my son, having reached 18 years of age was leaving

home. He was going to college. This particular morning Todd was very

much on my mind as I arose early to help him get packed and ready to

go. I was not expecting this to be an overly emotional day, yet the

memories overwhelmed me.

I remembered the first day his mother and I dropped him off at

kindergarten and how we too felt strange and overly concerned and sad;

I remembered his Bar Mitzvah when he stood before his family, friends,

and community at the tender age of thirteen and recited with

perfection his portion of our Holy Scripture, thereby entering Jewish

adulthood. Then too, I noted a lump in my throat and a tug at my

heart.

I remembered the times we spent alone and the times we shared with the

rest of the family, and I was very proud of him. Todd was my quiet,

gentle, sensitive, skeptical, shy, and intelligent, computer wizard

son. He had survived his mother's departure from our lives when he was

ten years old, and despite his shyness and lack of athletic prowess,

survived the rigors of adolescence.

I knew it was time to go. The car was packed and Todd was ready. It

was I who lingered and who was procrastinating. I wanted to have one

more conversation with my son, one more attempt to tell him all he'd

ever need to know about life and the real world. I wanted to prepare

him for college life, and try and help him avoid mistakes I had made

at that time in my life.

But as I sat at the edge of my bed and he on the edge of his chair

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