On Christmas Eve our daughter celebrated her eighteenth trip around the sun. And with that, we are a family of adults. If you ask her, she’ll tell you she doesn’t feel much different, that her life is basically the same. While that is mostly true, there is no denying the shift is in place. Today she opens a checking account with her own debit card, Friday she meets with her financial adviser to invest her life savings thus far. Heck, she’s been registered to vote for months now. She has been driving with her learner’s permit for close to two years, and will be getting her license soon. There are plans in the works for a trip (out of the country!) with a friend this spring. College applications are finished. Forget the big and bold things she has coming down the pike, the reality of parenting an adult is rocking me to my core and it’s going to take some time to sort it all out. I have no idea how to do this. 
Because I don’t seem to do anything quickly, I’m giving myself the year of 2016 to learn how to proceed. To learn how to transition. The plan is mostly to watch her and follow her lead, much like how I’ve spent the last eighteen years, I suppose. Of course, the truth is that she is still young and will likely be a full time student for a number of years to come so my guess is she will remain dependent on the security of family just the same. But one can’t help feel the bigness of it all. Marking this milestone as the parent of an only child adds a unique layer to the experience; there is no gaggle of younger ones to keep me busy as my oldest begins her flight from home. Although to be sure, Adam and I both think it’s pretty great (REALLY great) that we are a relatively young 43 years old, and for all intents and purposes, our hands on parenting days are over. Maybe we should celebrate our raising of a human to adulthood with a weekend away, no need to arrange childcare – we can just go! Imagine that.
Life is transitioning in other areas as well. Actually, the transitions are so many that I hesitate to discuss them in detail just yet, but they involve changes to my work, our residence, the amount of belongings that we own (anyone care to help me purge about half of our things?), my daughter (likely) moving away for college… you know, all the big life stuff wrapped into one lump of 365 days. None of these changes are something to dread, but on the cusp of the new year, I remain aware of the emotional spectrum they will represent in the coming months. 
That’s about it. Not the most profound first entry to 2016, but a simple one to mark the new beginning and claim my word, my intention, as we begin navigating all that is to come. Transition.
If I acknowledge the transitions right here and now, perhaps they will be less overwhelming as each one unfurls itself into our days. I doubt it, but that is the exact reason I chose this word, so that it may serve as a touchstone when needed. Last year was actually the first time I chose a word of the year, and much to my surprise, it wasn’t a trendy, cliche thing to do at all. Intended to help me remember the sacredness of our final (fully) hands on year of parenting, Cherish provided a place to pause and refocus on a near weekly basis through 2015. It was such an amazing tool for me (that did not fall by the wayside come February 1st); how could I leave the idea behind for 2016 – a year that promises to be even bigger than the last? Well, I just couldn't. Transition, it is.
And, transitions are okay.