An end and a beginning

They say amputees still reach out and scratch their missing limb...and though that isn't the most eloquent analogy, it is what I have felt like since leaving you for your new adventure.
Noises in the night aren't you coming home, there is no need to make extra portions at dinnertime, and I have no one to blame when I misplace something. A piece of me is missing, or perhaps displaced is a better word. A part of me is sad, but a bigger part of me is unbelievably proud. I have seen so many changes in you, each alteration enhancing the woman that you are and will become.
Grandma used to say children were like trees - When they were young, you had to protect them and brace them so they would grow straight and strong. The elements would batter the seedling as it grew, causing it to bend and sway, but you were there to give it the support it needed and set it straight again. When it no longer needed your help to stand and grow, you would trim and shape it...helping its limbs get stronger. Then, much too soon, you would find it could stand on its own, with strong roots and branches that you yourself would seek solice and shade under.
You are a beautiful young lady, smart and strong, stubborn and righteous. There will be many battles ahead, happiness and disappointment. Through it all, remember this...I will always be there when you need me most.
Maybe one day we will revive the "mantras", but for now, I will leave you with my most important lessons:
1. To achieve true love you must be willing to give everything of yourself, to be your most vulnerable, to trust and in return be trustworthy. You will know your true love by the sacrifices they are willing to make for you, and you them. Love is a compromise, and can only get stronger if both involved are willing to look beyond themselves and into each others' hearts.
2. The only way people will respect you is if you respect yourself. Your self esteem can only be controlled by one person...you. There will always be someone who doesn't like you because of how you look or what you have to say, you must learn to believe in yourself enough to turn away from that kind of negativity.
3. Never stop learning...I believe it was one of the first mantras I ever wrote. Self-education is the single most important part of a person's growth. You must earn the right to have an opinion, and the only way you can do that is by learning.
4. Judge your wealth by those who love you. You have learned a valuable lesson at a young age, material things can disappear with a puff of smoke. It is the love of friends and family that cannot be broken...bruised sometimes, but never broken.
5. You will always be my little girl.