Coach to Fan

It's been a week since I left my oldest on the side of a mountain in Birmingham, Alabama, and today is the day I am processing some of the experience.  The days leading up to the "College Drop-off" were a little emotional for me.  Her sweet friends started leaving for their respective colleges/gap-year experiences two weeks before, and I had a hard time with the thought of those relationships changing due to distance and time.  I believe she has been especially blessed in her friendships, and yes, maybe I am a bit "over attached", but I feel those kids are extended members of my family. So, that was hard.
But, as I considered actually leaving MY child behind, I felt like a coach.  I know this is quite a stretch considering my lack of athleticism, but bear with me.  I felt like a coach whose team had fought hard through the first quarter.  This coach had dedicated himself to teaching his players the fundamentals, and even though his players didn't always completely follow his instructions, they still left the first quarter in the lead.  As the quarter ended, the coach walked off the field, and he became a spectator. He prayed he had taught his players everything they needed to know to win the game, but he knew his place was now in the stands.  He was proud of what he had seen in the first quarter, and he believed not only were they ready, but they needed the opportunity to win on their own.  Over the last eighteen years, I have tried my best to teach my girl to love God, and to love others.  I have failed miserably MANY times, but because of His grace, she has thrived.  My role has changed...I may still offer opinions (don't all fans do that?), but for the most part, the decisions are up to her now.
If I think about the coach again, I realize he didn't just sit and watch the game.  He couldn't, he was too invested in his players, and in the game.  He stood on his feet the last three quarters and he cheered his players on. When they struggled early in the second quarter, they only had to turn around to see their coach with a big smile and hands raised in the air, urging them to continue with what they knew to be right and good in this game.  When it looked like they were going to lose late in the fourth, he jumped up and down, and screamed, "You can do this!  I believe in you!"  And, when they won in the last seconds of the game, tears streamed down his face, as he rushed the field to share hugs and celebrate their victory.  No longer a coach, just their biggest, most fanatical fan.  I will always, ALWAYS be your biggest fan, Ashton Elizabeth Holliday.  I love you.

"Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it."-Proverbs 22:6