“If a mother does her task well, she works herself out of a job. I know this, and I have been aware of the metamorphosis of my teenagers, but I am not entirely emotionally prepared to let go. It is true that I am always excited for a kid who jumps on an opportunity to be independent–to ride a public bus, to take the dinghy ashore, to go on a hike that’s too challenging for the larger group…I remember how fun it was to be free when I was a teenager. But I never considered how it made my mother feel to not be needed. And now I’m the mother…”–from Leaving the Safe Harbor by Tanya Hackney (Available wherever you buy books on October 31, 2021.)