State Fair time again...

Every year we go to the Alaska State Fair.  Every year we get a button photo magnet for our kitchen.  I started going to the fair when my daughter Karen was only one year old.  So I have a button for every fair from Labor Day 1997 until Labor Day 2011.  This week end is Labor Day 2012 and here we go to the Alaska State Fair to get our picture taken again.  But Karen will not be in this picture, because she is in Germany living out her dream to study abroad.  So Pete and Joe and I will be wearing our Alaska Grown shirts and keeping a space open in our picture, as we keep open in our hearts, for our wandering girl.

Every step of the journey is the journey

Those were the words on a keychain I gave my daughter the day before she left for a year in Germany.  What she may not realize, though, is that she is not the only person on this journey. As Karen journeys so do the all the people who love and support her.  Her friends have to fill the void she will leave in class and clubs at school. Her community will have to adjust to one less caring and fun loving person. Her brother has to learn to pick up the chores and parental cajoling Karen was so adept at. And her mother, I, will have to find another grocery shopping companion, and so much more.

I am ready for the journey because I have no choice. I will make the most of my steps and relish in each new day, because to do otherwise is insane. But I will miss my little girl every step of this journey until our paths converge again.