AND THE DAUGHTER CRIED....MAMMA MIA!!!!

Who would have thought that on this first college weekend I'd be getting a call from my newfound college bound daughter asking if I wanted to 'hang out'. Yes...it's true! It happened. (Okay...so she was bored...no I think she told me that all her friends from high school who are attending the same college as she had decided to come home for the night to attend their high school football game home opener against a major rival, or no...on second thought, it could have been the fact that her 'roomie' ...(that's what they call roommates these days) would be out spending the evening with her boyfriend). So what if I was last resort? I was stoked! My daughter actually WANTED to spend the evening with her mom!! How cool is that???

So I drove the thirty minutes to the college town where she now resides and picked up my daughter. We set out on our evening of hanging out and of course after eating three days worth of 'caf' food (cafeteria) as Megan put it, it was a must we grab a bite to eat. After a couple of missed turns (you would think I would know how to navigate my way around one of the busiest thoroughfares ever...maybe it was all the excitement of getting to spend this quality time together), we (she) finally decided on O'Charleys.

Then it was off to the movies and after scanning the list of not so great ones out there right now to choose from, we chose "Mamma Mia"...one of the great summer movies...that I failed to go see when it came out. I've never been much of a movie buff and could probably be one of those considered to be "Big Screen challenged. But I have to say that this movie is a MUST SEE!!!! It is definitely a chick flick. So gals don't take your guys to this one...unless they are into chick flicks or like the musical group ABBA! For those of you who have not seen the movie then I won't spoil it for you. However, I will tell you, that as I watched the movie with my daughter I couldn't help but notice the many parallels between the movie and real life of my daughter and I.

There was a scene in particular that I completely lost it on. It was a sweet scene in which Meryl Streep helps her daughter, Sophie, get ready for her wedding. The song that played during this exchange was the ABBA hit "Slipping Through My Fingers". As I listened to the words I couldn't help but totally identify with them especially given this is the very week that my daughter left home for college.

Schoolbag in hand, she leaves home in the early morning

Waving goodbye with an absent-minded smile

I watch her go with a surge of that well-known sadness

And I have to sit down for a while

The feeling that I'm losing her forever

And without really entering her world

I'm glad whenever I can share her laughter

That funny little girl

Slipping through my fingers all the time

I try to capture every minute

The feeling in it

Slipping through my fingers all the time

Do I really see what's in her mind

Each time I think I'm close to knowing

She keeps on growing

Slipping through my fingers all the time

Sleep in our eyes, her and me at the breakfast table

Barely awake, I let precious time go by

Then when she's gone there's that odd melancholy feeling

And a sense of guilt I can't deny

What happened to the wonderful adventures

The places I had planned for us to go (Slipping through my fingers all the time)

Well, some of that we did but most we didn't

And why I just don't know

Slipping through my fingers all the time

I try to capture every minute

The feeling in it

Slipping through my fingers all the time

Do I really see what's in her mind

Each time I think I'm close to knowing

She keeps on growing

Slipping through my fingers all the time

Sometimes I wish that I could freeze the picture

And save it from the funny tricks of time

Slipping through my fingers

Slipping through my fingers all the time

Schoolbag in hand she leaves home in the early morning

Waving goodbye with an absent-minded smile

The movie came to a close and I drove my daughter back to her dorm and dropped her off. As she walked away I thought about that song and its words. My, the years certainly have gone by, oh so fast! My daughter is practically a woman now...finally off to college and embarking on a brand new chapter in her life. This evening was a stark reminder of just how we are always right where we are supposed to be in every given moment. What were the odds that my daughter would call me and we would go see a movie about a mother and a daughter that contained a song that truly spoke the words of my heart, in the very week that my daughter headed off to college and I had to learn to let my 'little girl' go. Life is indeed full of pleasant surprises and those are the ones that are the most bittersweet!