One flew over the cuckoo's nest

In just 24 hours, my life will enter into another phase. One that I have been looking forward to and dread as well. In just 1440 minutes, one of my daughters will be leaving us for college. In just 86400 seconds, a big part of my life will changed forever...

Since her birth back in 1988, she has never been out of my sight and it is always comforting to know that she is safe and that you will be able to see her when she is happy or when she is sad. But come tomorrow, this is no longer possible. Come tomorrow, she and me will live separate lives and that is extremely difficult for me and my wife.

As a father, you worry about whether she will get along with her studies and her college mates. You worry about what will happen if she faces problems and you are no longer beside her to help her. You worry about whether she is comfortable sleeping in a new bed and in a new environment and alone. You worry, you worry and then you worry some more. Worst would be the missus. She worries about everything under the sun and to make sure that she will be as comfortable as possible, she'll visualize all possible scenarios and packed everything for her right down to the anti-ant powder! For the first time, I share her concerns.

Friends advised us that it is the best for children to learn independence and for someone who has never done household chores before, we worry she couldn't cope. But the irony of it all is that it is us, the parents that need to learn to be independent of our children. For most parents, having their children leave the home is an excruciating experience. After one leave, you start to think about what will happen when the other also leave and leaving the nest that we have built together empty.

Our home has always been full of laughter and we will goof and jokes about almost anything and everything. The most difficult part is that your jokes will be less funny with less laughter. Somehow, my jokes only seems to work with my kids. I enjoy telling them stupid things and sharing with them my interests and I always have a ready audience. Just like a stage performer, your enthusiasm diminishes as your audience starts to leave and while you are appreciative of those that has left behind, you always wish to have a full house.

I know my daughter will be ok. We've taught her enough for the past 18 years and it is about time that she lives out what we have taught her. She too will be entering a new and exciting phase in her life and our only hope is that she will be happy. Nothing else matters more.

As for me, I am thankful to God for giving me the opportunity to witness my daughter's growing up and for allowing me to fulfill my greatest wish in life and that is to be able to witness (1) the birth of my children (2) their first step (3) their first spoken word (4) their first day in kindergarten (5) their first day day in primary school (6) their first day into secondary schools and (7) their first day into university.

Now, I need only to prepare myself for the rest of the firsts that I had promised myself that I would want to do and with the grace of God, I hope that I will be able achieve them all.

My children getting happily married and my first grand child. Beyond that, I leave it to God for I have lived the life that I wanted. Until that day comes, my thoughts will always be with my children and my biggest thought now is for my daughter to have the best times of her life in university.