This week, my Book Worm will take a trip for a band competition and be gone to a major theme part for 5 days — without me.

*knees go weak*

You see, as a creative person, my imagination isn’t always used for good. As a matter of fact, we authors often look for the best way to screw up our characters’ lives, because it makes the emotional payoff that much higher in the end. So when imagining everything that could happen to her while she’s gone, my brain goes to Worst Case Scenario first.

From the Extreme: What if she’s kidnapped from the park? What if her belt isn’t tight enough on the rides?

Then there’s the milder “mommy” worries: What if she gets lost in the park and gets scared? What if she gets sick and is afraid to ask for help? What if she spends all her money and doesn’t have enough left for meals?

This imagination can so work against me here. Even though I’m friends with the Mom in charge of her walking group, the fears still run rampant.

This is a big trust challenge for her too. Because I do know that Mom, I’ll really know how she acts that far away from me. Since middle school this has been a bit of a challenge. So, that’s a slight fear too. Which only feeds the worry Monster.

What’s the way to alleviate this? Well, I don’t have a lot of answers here. I can’t make it go away altogether. But I’m trying to at least lower the worry quotient by:

1. Redirecting my thoughts. Distraction is my friend during these times, as well as Facebook. 🙂

2. Talk to her. Instead of bombarding her all at once, I’ve been dropping little tidbits like, “Pay attention and don’t wander from your group for any reason” when I can slip it naturally into the conversation. It helps that she’s so excited that she wants to talk about the trip ALL THE TIME.

3. Pray. Being a Mom has strengthened my need for faith. I can’t be with her always, but God can. I believe He hears every fervent prayer, and won’t allow anything to happen that we can’t handle with His help.

4. Remember, we’ve been teaching her for years. She can’t prove herself trustworthy without the opportunity. And mistakes are the best learning experiences — even if, as a mother, I’d rather not see her have to experience anything bad.

So I’m open to advice about surviving this new milestone (especially since I’m sure I’ll face many more of these moments during the teen years).

Dani

P.S. Check in tomorrow! It’s Release Day for Finding Her Rhythm!!!!