I’m not ready for this. I have that thought often as I navigate this thing called parenthood. It was front and center when I found out I had to be induced two weeks early with my first baby, and when I went back to work after my youngest was born.
I’m not ready for this. The thought crept in again a few days ago at my daughter’s kindergarten screening.
I’m not ready for this. My aunt texted it to me a week before my cousin graduated high school.
I’m not ready for this. A friend said it recently before her oldest moved away for a new job.
Photo by Heritage Photography
As parents are we ever really ready as the next milestone comes our way? Can we love someone as much as we love them and ever feel like we have done enough? Did we have enough time to prepare them, teach them, and let them know how loved they are?
I’m not ready for this. I know that will be my state of mind when I drop my daughter off for kindergarten in a few short months. Like with all milestones, all I can do is hope and pray that everything I have done up until that point is the best I could have possibly done.
I’m not ready for this. When we doubt ourselves as parents, most of the time what we have done has been enough. We have prepared our children by loving them, and by sending them out into the world with a supportive home to return to, be it after the first day of kindergarten or on break after the first semester of college.
With every new step, when our internal voices are telling us I’m not ready for this, we might not be ready, but they are.
A HOUSE WITH CHARACTER 