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Health & Fitness

It's a Hard Rain Gonna Fall; Our Little Girl Is Growing up and Moving Away

Our graduating senior is moving to Davenport today. She'll be back and forth at odd hours till she graduates, and then she'll be in Davenport. I'm going to miss her lots, but I'm happy for her.

It's raining hard and cold, despite the fact that it's May 3rd and it was warm and sunny out just a few days ago. I even got a sunburn riding downtown on my bike Tuesday.

Our daughter Sarah is picking up a U-Haul truck today at 1:00 p.m. to move to Davenport. She graduates from the University of Iowa May 18th, and she got a real full-time job in Davenport that she's already begun working part time. An empty, sweet upstairs apartment in an historic neighborhood with old houses, big trees, and big yards is waiting for her near the Mississippi River, just about five or six blocks from work.

We are going to help her move today from her little Iowa City hovel, which is not much more than a hallway, really, with indentations called "rooms," to something with more light and space.

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What a perfect day to move, Beep the Jeep! It's been raining all morning, but at least it's no longer pouring. It's just a steady rain.

No one will melt. But what about her sofa, which last year's roommate, this year's law student, was kind enough to give her?

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I'll wear my Burley rain jacket and the yellow hat I bought for RAGBRAI, a Nor'easter more suitable for days like today or the Maine coast in a storm.

Sarah's boyfriend will bring his truck, and we'll all do our part. Jesse, our son, has to work, or he'd be there too. 

It's a good thing Sarah used to heft hundreds of pounds of salt at the University of Iowa Water Plant. She began her biceps training as a "toddwer" on the monkey bars at "Kiddie Ketter" (Kiddie Konnection). She had trouble pronouncing "r" and "l," but she climbed towers, worked out on the monkey bars, and ran around as much as she could.

Once she fell from a tower the third or fourth time she jumped from it and split open the skin under her eyebrow. I remember her trying to climb the curtains at Mercy ER afterward, bleeding profusely but in good spirits, until she realized the doctor was going to put in five stitches to hold her cut and eyebrow together.

Then she fought us all like a little tiger, a lot stronger, suddenly, than she looked. And she still is. She's the tiniest water treatment operator I've ever seen. She goes to work in steel-toed oilrig boots, Carhartt jeans, and a T-shirt. She's has Water Plant Operator Licenses 1 and 2. She'll have a degree in environmental sciences.

I can't tell you how sad and joyous I am, all at the same time, to see my little girl grow up and move an hour away. I'm so happy she got a good job starting at more pay per hour than her Dad and I ever have ever made, so happy she got a nice apartment, so glad she will be able to pay off her student loans, and so deeply sad that she's actually moving away. Not far, but away.

Probably we'll only see her a little less than we did before. I  suppressed the sadness so deep that I couldn't figure out why I was having trouble sleeping until someone nice guessed why. As soon as she said "because Sarah's moving away?" I knew she was right. Of course. Sarah, my baby. Why wouldn't I be restless?

A new start to a hopeful future is no cause for alarm. Sarah worked hard for what she's got. She put up with a lot to get here. We are happy for her.

Some graduating seniors move to other states or other countries. I remember one of Sarah's preschool teachers moving with her husband to China to teach English because they couldn't make enough money here to pay off their combined $100,000 in student loans. 

Sarah's not moving to China. Her boyfriend is back from Japan. She didn't move there. Life is good. I just wish I could convince all of me that I'm completely and totally happy.

They say good news is stressful too. I should have realized it sooner. My little girl is growing up and it's all good. As soon as my heart knows what my brain already knows, as soon as I see her little face again and can rejoice in her new prosperity, I'll be fine.

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