Saturday 4 September 2010

A hard rain's gonna fall

It's 10:30 here in Halifax, Nova Scotia and the leading edge of Hurricane Earl has been whirling through for the past hour or so. I see trees and bushes tossing wildly and sheets of rain slicing down the deserted streets, with waves of water sloshing over from the gutters. Good thing Earl was downgraded; he's now a "weak Category One". I wouldn't care to encounter anything stronger. Reports already coming in of fallen trees and power outages. I better get this done...

Half an hour ago, I waved goodbye to elder daughter as she descended to the parking levels of this hotel to drive the short distance to the University of King's College, "Canada's oldest chartered university" (founded 1789, which is ancient by Canadian standards). I slipped into the tiny computer room here and had a quick weep, because once people see someone in here, they decide to come in too.

Being eighteen, elder daughter is eager to get started, and being eighteen, she's still veering between being a child and an adult. This song has been relentlessly playing in my head for the past twenty-four hours:
Oh very young, what will you leave us this time?
You're only dancing on this earth for a short while . . . .
There'll never be a better time to change your mind
And if you want this world to see a better day
Will you carry the words of love with you?

And the goodbye makes the journey harder still.


The computer room has people in it now. If I need a place for another quiet weep, I'll have to find someplace else.

5 comments:

chrissie_allen said...

Good choice of song.
I can understand how you feel, best wishes Persephone.

SOL's view said...

She's off to college? Seeing a child off into the world on their own is terrifying, stressful and yet joyful and satisfying.

In truth though I would say that they never truly leave home.

That said, I am finally beginning to enjoy my own independence. :)

Good luck Persephone.

Persephone said...

I'm just relieved it was an okay video, Chrissie! The hotel computer didn't have plug-ins, so I embedded the YouTube video on faith (and after reading the comments).

We call it "off to university" here, SOL. Colleges here tend to be community and vocational institutions.

SOL's view said...

Argh! So you do. For some reason my brain was in outerspace and if I'd clicked into gear I would have remembered you are actually in Canada, not the US. Duh!

We call it Uni here too.

JoeinVegas said...

I hope she calls often