Beginnings, endings
and in betweens

In less then three weeks I will not have a child living in my house.

In less than three weeks I will have been duly introduced to being a parent of a freshman film major at New York University.

In less than three weeks I will have a slightly different lifestyle than I have had for the last nineteen years.

My son will be away at college.

I am excited for the opportunity, his and mine. It is a beginning and an end.

I think we are prepared. I have explained that it is better to drink juice than fruit drinks. I have reiterated that it’s a good idea to keep track of your stuff. I always travel light, I have told him.

He is excited to be able to go to a school that will teach him how to make films.

I celebrate his going.

I feel confident that he can make his way in an urban university setting.

I believe that I have given him a sense of values and commitment which will see him through even the most confusing of times.

He has been educated. He is prepared. He makes his own way, especially in these final days.

He has spent his summer buying film books and is shooting a short this week that he will enter into the Freshman Film Festival during orientation.

Wanting to hit New York City with some basic work skills, he has spent the summer as a waiter in one of Narrowsburg’s restaurants. There he waits on film directors and actors, professionals from New York City’s cultural scene.

I find it funny, like one of life’s ironies.

Here is a young man, leaving a small town to pursue a chosen profession in a big city, who in preparation for this change of lifestyle gets a job in his hometown and meets the professionals in his chosen field. They come to this rural river valley for its beauty and opportunity.

It sends a great message, as far as I am concerned. It says that this area is an attractive and vibrant place where we are able to live our lives in pursuit of creative effort. Which is to say that, even though our children might seek experiences, in places other than this river valley, it is not a foregone conclusion that they are gone for good or that they won’t need or want to be in this place again.

Our children grow up and begin a life on their own. It’s what we raise them to do.

Our children leaving the area is not an indictment of what we don’t have here in our rural communities. In fact, their preparedness and the one-on-one opportunities and warm communities they have enjoyed here will probably be essential to their success.

Life moves us along, providing beginnings, endings and in betweens.

It gives us days of relationship with those we love. As we release them, let’s celebrate the next phase of their adventure. As we release them, let’s celebrate the next phase of our own adventure.

Laurie Stuart, Editor