Anticipatory Anxiety

I have sixteen-year-old twins...a girl and a boy. Obviously they are a major part of my life, but I am facing the reality that they will be leaving for school in the not-too-distant future. I'm the mother, mind you, that when they took their "practice ride" on the kindergarten bus, I blubbered the whole ten minutes. It was a spectacle. Forget the first day of actual kindergarten. I still cannot bring myself to discuss what I did that day.

And there's that horrible month when my daughter Birdy went to camp one summer--I don't know what year it was because I've blocked it out. It got to the point where people would avoid asking me if I'd heard from her because all I could do was cry.

We had "College Night" at Birdy's school last night for parents and daughters. I'm sure she was terrified that I'd ask some hideously embarassing question. I could feel her twitching away next to me; in the nice front row seats I had selected. I don't know why she has this anxiety. I would never do anything embarassing. Ever.