My baby is going away

My first born, my 13 1/2 year-old is leaving tomorrow on a school trip to New York City. No, I'm not going. I can't leave my son with anyone and my husband doesn't have time off right now, so she's going, in good company, with classmates and other mothers who were able to swing it.

We are in the final six weeks or so of middle school and then she'll be a high-schooler. Yep, a freshman in high school. Is it strange that I feel like I am still a freshman in high school? When did I become the mom with the teen-aged daughter?

The days of milestones being exciting and wanting her to do the next thing developmentally stopped when she was about ten. Now I feel like time is going fast...like spinning out of control fast!

Nowadays, she's all teenager, all the time. It's the eyerolling, the huffy sighs, the closed bedroom door and loud music. It's a trip to NYC without her mommy. It's all of those things that remind me of how fast life goes by...and how beautiful it is.