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My big boy is gone for the summer, this time until August and although the Hawaiian trip delayed the pain of longing, upon my return to Colorado and his empty room, my heart aches.  Since he was four years old, I have practiced "saying good bye" and though the pain is duller now and I no longer pace his room, tears streaming down my face with the fierce longing of motherhood, for weeks on end.  I miss him.  His tender hearted presence and gentle energy.  His slow smile and deep thinking.  He is growing up and sometimes it feels like a string of goodbyes within a continuous stream of love so large that all our tears have room to fall.

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