Separation

Birth: Your first separation, no longer physically connected to mother.
School:  You leave the nest where parents have given the basic, general information and go to teachers who give additional, more complex info.
Adolescence: You spend less time with parents and more with peers.
Relocate: You go to college or career as an adult.
Marriage: You leave childhood family to form a new partnership and family.
Birth: Your baby no longer physically connected to mother.
School: Your child leaves to continue education.
Adolescence: Your child spends less time with you and more with peers.
Home alone: Your child is now an independent adult.
Live alone: Your spouse leaves or dies.
Death: Your last separation, no longer physically connected to the world.

     Separation (permanent or temporary) is natural, necessary, sometimes painful.  Where we were once connected, we now have a space between ourselves and others.  An emotional connection may remain which should also be natural, necessary, and healthy.  We need to go from pain to acceptance and enjoy and develop ourselves as separate.  Everyday we are forced to separate from the past and welcome the future.  Some separations are temporary and we can say, "See you later."  Other separations are permanent and we must say, "Good-by."