Time
Time is a funny thing. We seem to be either waiting for time to catch up to us or we are wondering how time passed us by. This past weekend, we attended our oldest daughter’s college for “Parent’s Weekend”. She is a sophomore attending a college 15 hours away from our little hillside farm. This weekend, I came to realize that we, my husband and I, have entered into a transition period passing from one phase of life to another and wondering how did time get away with us. With two children still at home, I feel we have one foot in each door. One foot maintains our home schooling efforts at home and the other foot tests the waters of the “empty nest” with children living far away.
Where has time gone? Wasn’t it yesterday that our oldest daughter entered into our lives? It seems only a few weeks ago that I had little ones underfoot, chattering endlessly, standing on chairs in the kitchen to help me bake bread or wash dishes. Surely it was only last year that we lay in the floor tracing our bodies on paper, or dressed in Roman togas, or sat at our dining room table chanting grammar rhymes or Latin noun declensions. And now-I find myself at a college campus for Parent’s Weekend with a bright eyed 19 year old by my side.
Parents and younger siblings stood out awkwardly on the college campus as collegiate life whizzed around us. Our daughter attends the nation’s only college which does not accept any federal or state funding. Because of this, the college has maintained its autonomy and dedication to “pursuing truth and defending liberty”. The campus abounds with enthusiastic youth, determined to make a difference in the world and to rise above mediocrity. Their dress, attitudes, respect for their professors and one another, conversations, and love for learning reveal that they strive for excellence in all they do and represent. By the end of our weekend, I felt a sense of hope for our nation, knowing that with time– these youth will be our future leaders, teachers, politicians, business men and women and great thinkers. 
