DD made me cry.
DD, who is a senior in HS, returned last night from a senior class religious retreat. As part of the retreat, we parents were asked to right a letter to our daughters letting them know we love them and are proud of them. Those letters were read to our kids, aloud, at the retreat.
On the last day of the retreat, the kids were asked to journal one of three topics: (1) lasting images from the retreat; (2) how the retreat made them closer to God, or (3) if you had one minute to say something to your parents, what would you say??
Unbeknowst to the retreatants, the last part of the retreat was a gathering with their parents and the retreatants could get up before the whole group and give a brief "talk" about their journal topic.
Many - almost all of them did so.
When DD stepped forward, she started with "Dad you are my rock." And the tears/mistiness came to my eyes -- she said "don't cry dad, because I'll start crying". I'm not even sure what else she said after that because I was trying not to lose it.
I'm teary eyed and sniffling as I write this.
The long and short of it is this: your children know who they can rely upon and who they cannot. Give them room (and credit) to figure it out.
MCE Saint