I find myself really wanting to celebrate them. To truly honor the completion of this school year and everything they went through to get here. I can almost hear that familiar voice in my head saying, "You baby them," or, "Oh my God, why do they deserve to celebrate the end of 7th or 11th grade? That's just a normal thing all kids do. You're so soft!

Lately, I've been feeling oddly agitated and unsettled on weekends, and I couldn't quite put my finger on why. Tight shoulders, tight jaw, irritability, a subtle restlessness. Even on weekends when I technically wasn't "on" parenting duty, I couldn't seem to fully relax into the moment.

There’s something about watching teenagers begin reaching toward the edges of themselves that requires us as parents to stretch too. To loosen our grip a little. To trust a little more. To let them become.

And maybe that’s the thing about being sick. The body has a way of forcing a pause that we might not choose for ourselves. School stops. Activities stop. Even the endless teenage independence softens for a few days. And in that pause, something else quietly happens. The nervous system settles. Grief moves through. Connection sneaks back in.