Letting him go

On Friday afternoon, I met Miles at school to bring him lunch before he boarded a bus with his high school swim team. (I brought a pizza from Little Cesar’s, tell me I didn’t get some bonus points for that!!)  The meets were on Friday night and Saturday which meant he had to spend the night in a hotel 4 hours away from home.  And with Richard traveling for work, the last thing he wanted to do was drive across the state and the last thing I wanted to do was to be away from him.

I know this is just the first in a series of events over the next four years where I just have to “Let him go.”  But, wow, it’s hard.  I don’t know how parents did it before cell phones and texting.  Miles, who is not at all the “great communicator”, gave me a pretty good account of every stop and their progress down the highway, as well as, when he swam and how he did. I loved that.

In true mom fashion, I tucked in some more clothes and a jacket in the bag he had packed and loaded him up with Gatorade, water and snacks.  In true Miles fashion, he made fun of how heavy his “snack bag” was and tried to give me a hard time.  But I know he appreciated the snacks I sent.

I’ve been trying to find high calorie, healthy foods to keep him fueled up.  I mean, do you remember during the Olympics hearing how much food Michael Phelps ate?  Now, I know Miles is no Michael Phelps, but getting Miles to eat large quantities of food is a challenge.  My solution for snacks has been homemade trail mix and homemade Cliff Bars.

I think Cliff Bars are a perfectly acceptable snack/meal as far as being healthy.  They are organic and while very high in calories are a great supplement to an intense work out.  Miles, however, burnt out on them pretty fast.   So, I did what mother’s do best in this day and age, I googled recipes for Cliff Bars.  I’m still perfecting my recipe and share it maybe after the next batch.

Letting him go is so much easier when I can send him off with a care package, a little bit of love from Mom.