My wife and I just got back from one of the hardest, most bittersweet trips of our life.  We moved our only child to a faraway state for an incredible new job.  It’s not the first time that she’s moved away nor is it the farthest she’s moved.  But, for some reason, this time is different.

The first time she left home was to go away to college.  As hard as that move was to facilitate, we at least had the benefit of her only being three hours away.  About four years ago she was working for a few months in China and, if you don’t think I spent some sleepless nights worrying about my “little girl”, then you have another think coming.  

After she returned from China, we had the tremendous blessing of enjoying having our daughter around for four years.  We’ve laughed and cried as families often do when they go through life together.  Lacie has an incredibly well developed sense of humor and constantly has us busting out laughing.  It’s always the little things – the inside family jokes – that make us laugh the hardest and that we cherish most.

We also enjoyed lots of discussions about life, politics, faith, music, and current events.  Lacie has such unique insight into things that, while I might not always agree, her opinion has given me another way of looking at or appreciating certain things.

Mostly, though, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed having her near because, me just being a dad, I take great comfort in knowing that she’s okay and, in knowing that, just about everything is well with my world.  Dad’s being dad’s, we are fixers, protectors and figure-outers and we’re wired to do that at a moment’s notice.  However, it’s a bit harder to jump into a situation for my daughter, with a big red “S” on my chest and my cape flowing in the wind when she’s almost a thousand miles away.

How her opportunity came about can be easily described as a “God thang” because so many things that shouldn’t have happened did.  And while I would have much rather she had a great opportunity  closer to her mother and I, how can I argue with a ‘God thang’?  In witnessing the series of miracles myself and knowing the story behind it all, Rhonda and I can take great comfort and pride in knowing that this is an incredibly great thing for Lacie.

Yeah,  it’s crushing my heart to know that our daughter is so far away.  It’s tough knowing that the door’s not going to open any minute now and hear my little girl say “Hey!”.   I wince knowing that spontaneous humor and insights near as much as we have grown accustomed to are now going to be fewer and farther between.  As painful as all of that is, I wouldn’t want to hold her back from taking advantage of incredible opportunities and to continue be her own person.

So, to twist around the title of this piece just a bit, she’s gone and she’s set.  I have no choice but to be ready.