I recently discovered the term “bird launching” to describe when almost-grown kids start to leave home (and not a hunting-dog training device, yeesh). So much lovelier than “empty nest” don’t you think?

My nest is not empty yet, but my nestlings are spreading their wings. My eldest started college last year and enjoyed himself so much that he took a position at the university–a thousand miles away–over the summer. My youngest started high school this year after spending most of his life at the same school, a community our family was part of for 15 years. Big changes all around, for them as well as for me.

All of a sudden they’re building communities of their own, discovering who they are and how they want to be in the world. It’s exciting to see them grow, but I am no longer the one they turn to when they’re sick or bored or lonely (okay sometimes when they’re sick. Or hungry. Or need money. Even occasionally for advice). More and more, they’re figuring it out for themselves, and I’m incredibly proud of them.

The challenge for me is how to walk the line between being part of their lives and butting in (or butting out too much). It’s not always easy, which is how I know that these kiddos are pushing me to grow too. Like them, I’m discovering who I am now, who I want to be, and how to navigate from here to there. As my children launch into the exciting next phase of their lives, my life is changing. No longer the mama of little boys, I’m the mom of young men. There’s a sadness, sure, that time goes so fast (it’s true: in parenting, the days are long but the years are short). But like my kids, I am leaping from the nest into the wide blue open, trusting that these wings are meant to fly.