A Mother's Strength in Letting Go

As I write this, I am filled with both grief and gratitude. Two emotions that can - and often must - coexist.

This time of year, when the air sharpens and the trees loosen their final grip on what once made them vibrant, carries its own unmistakable energy. It is autumn’s quiet reminder that all things - even the most beautiful - are meant to change. Nature teaches us these lessons over and over: to let go, to fall, to rest, and to rise again.

And so too, in my own life, that rhythm continues.

This season marks the anniversaries of two of my greatest losses: our family’s soul dog, and my father. Their absences still echo gently through memory - soft, steady reminders of the love that shaped us.

And now, standing once again in the current of change, I find myself preparing for another kind of loss - one not born of death, but of evolution.

My eldest son, my baby boy, is preparing to leave home.

To step into his own becoming.

To answer his own calling.

To live the life that is his.

My heart swells with pride for the man he is becoming, for the opportunities unfolding before him. Yet beneath that swelling lies a quiet ache - a tender knowing that life as it has been will never be quite the same.

The laughter coming from the next room, the shared meals, the comfortable chaos of family life - all shifting, reshaping themselves into something new.

The tears that fall are both for pride and grief, gratitude and sadness - joy for everything that was, and longing for what will never be again.

Change has a way of cracking us open. It demands that we feel the full spectrum of being alive. It asks us to release what we’ve held close, to trust what we cannot yet see, and to open ourselves to whatever comes next.

So, as I step into this new season, I do so with both reverence and readiness.

I allow myself to feel deeply.

To cry freely.

To love fiercely - even through the letting go.

Because the depth of my grief only mirrors the depth of my love.

And as I loosen my hold, I also look forward - choosing to harness my thoughts and emotions toward the possibilities waiting on the horizon.

To greet each new opportunity with open arms and an open heart.

To continue supporting my sons as they carve their own paths as men in this world - separate, yet forever connected.

To let go is not to lose.

It is to honour the gift of having loved so deeply.

And in that surrender - in that movement of evolution - there is strength.

There is hope.

And there is the unending rhythm of life itself, always calling us to keep moving forward.