Missing S already

No more beautiful blue sky today, it's cloudy and gray and there is still lots of snow on the ground and more in the forecast over the next week. This is perfect weather to be knitting and crocheting and ever since a week ago when I learned that S would be going to the Caucasuses or Eastern Europe for 27 months with the Peace Corps--all I can think about is what I can make to keep her warm and wrapped in her mother's love while she is far away.

I'm so proud of this beautiful little girl who really isn't a little girl any more. Everything that she has done in her life is brave--she's always worked outside of her comfort zone. In the summer between 8th and 9th grades, with Darrow Camp , she hiked the 100 mile wilderness; in the summer between 9th and 10th grade she went to northern Quebec and canoed on a river in the wilderness for six weeks never seeing another soul except the 10 people she was with; then in 10th grade she decided that she wanted to go to Limestone, Maine for boarding school and she did--hours away from home. In her senior year, she decided that she wanted to go to Washington, DC for college--about as far from Limestone as you can get in terms of population, diversity and activity. She more than succeeded in college and now she's heading for 27 months of teaching English in countries that I can barely even pronounce. Most importantly, to me, her mom, she did all that while developing into one of the nicest people that I have ever met.

So, until she leaves and while she's gone I'll knit and crochet and sew and bake and send her things that I've touched and hugged and slept with hoping that the love will get through the miles.