Off to BYU

Yesterday my daughter Rosie left for BYU. It is early, but she needed to have some dental work done. Her uncle is a dentist in Saint George, and Saint George is a convenient stop along the way from Southern California to Provo, Utah. After a few days of dental work she will take some leadership training at BYU, and then go to Freshman Orientation.

So, before she left, we stood around for a few minutes, getting last minute things, and giving one another hugs over and over again. I blinked back the tears, and kept tight control of my voice. There was a lump in my throat, and an ache in my heart. Hoping to provoke a little laugh I said with over-the-top sincerity, “Why does everyone always have to go away?”

“You sound like Mr. Woodhouse, Papa” Rosie remarked, smiling broadly. I’m sure I looked puzzled. “You know, Emma’s father in the Jane Austen novel.” We talked about that for a moment. Rosie convinced me that Mr. Woodhouse was not a bad sort of person after all.

Rebecca, my fifteen year old daughter, added her view, “I was thinking you sounded something like Beth in Little Women.”

Mr. Woodhouse, or Beth - they both seemed like possible examples for the way I felt. Rosie is my sixth child to go away to BYU. It doesn’t get any easier as we go down the line,”losing them out the top,” as someone once put it. In two years Rebecca will have to go away to school, and I have no doubt that she will choose BYU. My children come back to visit for Christmas, and sometimes they stay a whole summer. But it is never the same again. Something is gained, and something is lost. And that makes me happy, and sad.