Follow your dreams, chase your rainbow, find your pot of gold!

I didn't sleep so well last night. Tossing and turning throughout the night, I let an unwanted visitor in. Worry. As a parent, I don't think that unwanted visitor ever realizes it is an unnecessary presence in our lives, yet here it is, back again for an overnight visit. I feel as I did four years ago, when faced with leaving for North Carolina, cars packed and gassed up ready to take one of the pieces of my world 550 miles away to college. Today is the day I have always feared. Today is the day my daughter truly enters the real world, moving into her little basement efficiency apartment in the Tenleytown section of Northwest Washington DC. As a parent, I know I did a great job raising my daughter. She has a great head on her shoulders and is very wise, however I can't help but feel pangs of worry. I know it is time for her to continue on in her journey of life, but I am also a little sad that she is moving away, even though I know there really is nothing for her here in our area in her chosen career field. Washington DC is where she needs to be right now.

And Washington DC is where she is going. The neighborhood she is moving to is quiet. Beautiful little (and some a little bigger) homes dot the pristine tree-lined streets of this little town, almost creating the illusion that you aren't in Washington DC. As I lie awake last night, I started to check out the area a little more (perusing the web can either be a blessing or a curse!). While I already knew that she was living two blocks from the Embassy for the Eastern Caribbean States, not far from the Department of Homeland Security, the National Navy Chapel, I also found out that the area she is living in is quite prestigious in its surroundings. Nearby are several educational institutions, the most notable of which are: American University (which is where she will be doing her graduate work as well as where she will be employed. It's a five minute walk from the house where she is living.); Sidwell Friends School, (famous for being the school of choice of presidential children) and Woodrow Wilson High School are located nearby, too. Seems like a great choice in living opportunities to me!

Living opportunities, ahhhhhh, another subject that boggles my mind. I did not realize that people are very big on renting out rooms or basement efficiencies in their homes (especially not for roughly the same amount I pay in a mortgage, but then again it isn't cheap to live in 'The District'.). As my daughter was looking into where she was going to live, rooms galore were popping up on the campus website. Made me very nervous to hear her describe places where she'd be living with strangers. I'm still a bit leery but after meeting the people whose basement efficiency she will be inhabiting, I do feel much better. 

So, what does this all mean? It serves as a little reminder for us to always follow our dreams and not give up on them. Where there is a will, there is always a way, even if the road to get there is bumpy and filled with obstacles to overcome. 

It is my hope that you are able to follow your dreams, chase your rainbow, find your pot of gold!