Another school year has ended at my house.  My daughters are both home from college – one finishing up her junior year and one halfway through her sophomore year (already).

As I was loading up the car from yet another dorm move-out, it occurred to me that this was probably the last summer we’d all spend together under one roof.

Once graduated, my oldest will most likely look for her own place elsewhere, hoping to utilize her English degree (with a Screenwriting minor) in some sort of writing profession.  As for screenwriting, there are really only a few places one can go to get established in that field, and both of them are not local, so it will be a big change for all of us.

As for my youngest, she is planning on exercising her hospitality management chops (a degree she is pursuing) down south at a major, rodent-infested, theme park company next summer (and probably many summers after that).  She’s following in the family footsteps, as both her mother and I (as well as her uncle and aunt) both spent many years working in the Florida sun, and the pull of Orlando will be a strong one.  Other than finishing up her degree at college, I doubt that she’ll live full-time with us again after this fall.

We’ve always encouraged our girls to step out of their comfort zones and see the world, especially while they are young.  The small town we live in is great place to grow up, but there is so much more to see, do, and explore – and a great big adventure awaits each of them.  They both need room to write their own life story.  It just won’t be here.

Either way, the next few weeks will be filled with requests for favorite family meals, sisterly arguments, chairs strewn with dirty laundry, shoes left everywhere, and bags of snacks secretly disappearing from the pantry.  It will be loud, boisterous, and full – just as a house should be.

Sure, my wife and I have had periods of downtime as the girls have traversed their college careers, but there was always the assurance that our chicks would come back to the nest. 

After this summer, though – our little birds will begin to spread their wings and fly off on their own – and the silence they leave behind will be deafening.

As a father, I swell with pride over all that my girls have accomplished so far, I’m full of hope and support for all that awaits them, and a little melancholy over seeing them go – but such is a parent’s lament.

I’ll relish every moment of the upcoming summer, and welcome them both back home with open arms at any time after that.