“No matter how you feel…Get up. Dress up. Show up. And never Give up.”

That is going to be my mantra for the next few days to help me get through things. As any of you who follow my blog know, today I sent my daughter off on a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints for the next 18 months.  To say it was brutal to say goodbye to her would not even begin to explain how difficult it was. It literally ripped my heart out to watch her walk away at the airport. It felt like air was sucked right out of my lungs. My heart went with that little girl today….literally…

The only way I will get through the next 18 months is to make myself focus on how awesome her experiences will be these next 18 months and how much she will grow as a person through this experience. I have to make myself focus on that so I don’t break down and cry all the time. And heaven knows I hate to crying….argghhh….it’s the worst. Crying just makes my eyes swollen and my face puffy and it gives me a headache. So I am going to do my very best to not spend my time crying. I can’t guarantee I’ll be able to suppress the tears but I am really going to try and be positive and excited for her.

“On particularly rough days when I’m sure I can’t possibly endure, I like to remind myself that my track record for getting through bad days so far is 100% and that’s pretty good.”

Another thing that will help me get through the sadness of missing her is to focus my attention on trying to accomplish great things myself during the time while she is gone doing great things herself. When my son left on his mission a few years ago I got busy building our new house and having that project to complete really helped me to stay focused on accomplishing something rather than moping around all the time.  Since the house project I done I am going to have to come up with another major project to put my heart into for the next 18 months to help me get through it. I need something to force me to keep looking and moving forward.

“You have to find something. Something that anchors you, something that keeps you looking forward. Even on the bad days, the days when you’re tempted to look back.”

Another thing that really helps to get through hard things is knowing that there have to be other people reading this blog who have had to say goodbye to loved ones for a period of time and who understand what I am going through.  There is something very comforting in knowing that other people can relate to the hurt my heart is feeling today. It’s nice to know that other people understand and that you are not alone in things. I guess what I am trying to say is:  Thanks for being my support group, whether you intended to be or not, it means the world to me, so thank you!

~Amy