When I was 16 years old I spent a year in Australia as an exchange student. I loved my time there and always hoped one of my boys would also like to go on exchange. When the twins were the right age for a high school exchange Covid-19 shut the world and all travel down so they missed out. When Julian came to me his Freshman year of high school and said he wanted to go to Japan I was so excited! I encouraged him, I spoke with his school counselor to make sure it would not interfere with his graduation. I drove him to Portland once a week for a private Japanese tutor. I was so happy one of my kids would get this life changing opportunity. Then I took him to the airport to say goodbye for the last time and I thought, "Wait, whose idea was this? My baby is leaving the country and living on his own with a different family and I won't know what he is doing or how is feeling every day? I'm not so sure I like this anymore." But I let him go anyway. I watched as he walked toward his airplane to fly away from me for a year and my heart broke a little but mostly I was super proud of him. Proud that he wanted to take this hard step into independence. We love you Julian and miss you every day but we know you are capable and will have an amazing time!
