Where did she go?

Yesterday, 10:00 p.m.
My daughter is home. She's been home a week (a minute in Mom-time) and is returning to New York in the morning. We've really only had this one day together - stolen from the library. Migraine was my excuse. We spent the day together watching "Big Love," lunching at Flying Fish, shopping, and taking in a movie - "Ratatoullie." It was a wondrous day of talking about nothing and everything. She's doing what she loves and is beginning to see success. She's happy so I am heartbreakingly happy.

When she comes home for a visit, I spend the days before she arrives in a state of anticipation. And then, a funny thing happens when she finally gets here. It's cliche, I know, but it's like she never left. Everybody and everything falls into place. She and her brother fall back into their hilarious repartee. Her phone will ring incessantly. We laugh more.


She is with her friend now for farewells. We don't know when she will be back home again. She's here now but I feel she's already gone and I am incredibly sad. I'll be devastated for days. Will my children always have such power over me? Dear God, I hope so.

Today, 5:00 a.m.
And, in a whirl, she's gone. Back to New York and her future, taking my heart with her.