It’s graduation season – and this year, my oldest daughter is joining the ranks of those wide-eyed teens who will be walking across the stage in gyms, auditoriums, and theaters across the country, ending one chapter of her life and looking forward to her next adventure.

It’s hard to believe that the time has gone by so fast.  As parents, my wife and I have tried to instill our accumulated life lessons, ethics, and values into our kids.  One can only hope that the work we’ve put in over the years will result in a young adult who is capable of taking care of themselves and who also has the ability to make sound decisions in the real world.

There is so much that awaits her – both joys and pitfalls.  A stable job, a lifelong partner, her first apartment, monthly bills, her first car, maybe even kids of her own one day – the list goes on and on.  These are all things that she will now get to decide on her own, hopefully leaning on the teachings and examples we have provided her.

Oh, we’ve made some mistakes along the way – what parent hasn’t?  But I’d like to think that she also sees that it proves that we’re human as well, and that the errors we make (and how we react and work through them) are also a valuable part of the human experience.  I remember that in my youth, one of my mentors provided me with a valuable piece of advice.  He said, “always remember – a wise man learns from other people’s mistakes, the average man learns from his own mistakes, and the fool never learns.  Don’t be the fool.”   There’s a lot to unpack there, but it’s all good information.

For my wife and I, questions from my daughter are now being answered not with a direct order (“I want you to do this”), but with a response that gauges her input and thought process (“Well, what do you think you should do?”).  It’s been a transition for both sides, as we are trying to step back and let her make more and more of the decisions that will directly affect her own future.

I’m so proud of what I see so far.  My oldest daughter is a lovely, bright, caring, thoughtful, and creative young woman.  It’s easy to spot traits, tendencies, and brief flashes of both my wife and I in her, but she has grown into her own person – and I can’t wait to see what she does next.

In the end, the adult birds have to step back and see if their offspring can fly.

But there will always be a place for them in the nest, if need be.