Marketers know the importance of a good launch. The success of a given product, whether it be a phone, camera, new gaming system, or whatever it might be, will depend to some degree on how intentional the launch process is. I’m not a marketer, by I can see that a successful launch basically accomplishes the following:
- convinces you that it’s time to move on from the old (whatever that might be)
- builds anticipation for the joy and excitement of the new (whatever that might be)
This past week was launch week for us as a family in two different ways.
Launch of our firstborn
Last week, we took Sylas to college. He was prepared to leave, it was time, and he is looking forward to this new season with a lot of excitement and anticipation. We’ve spent literally 18 years preparing for that launch, even though most of those years I wasn’t thinking about it in that way. Most of the time our goal was to successfully make it through each day. But isn’t that how anything is launched? Careful preparation and intentionality ahead of time, one day at a time?
We helped him to get settled in last Saturday at Valpo and left. No one can begin to prepare you for the myriad of thoughts, feelings, and emotions that accompany getting your first child launched into the world. I remember crying all the way home the first day I dropped Sylas off at Kindergarten. Wow, that seemed so huge at the time, and it was, but it pales in comparison to this milestone.
I held it all together as we said our final goodbyes on the lawn, but as we walked away I grasped Charles’s hand and the tears began to flow. I glanced back one more time to see Sylas and his room mate walking away from us, and towards this new life of his.
On the way home, I sat in the backseat, Joelle in the front, so that I could be less inconspicuous as the tears continued to freely flow for the next long while. About 15 minutes into our drive home, he texted and said thanks for everything and let me know he will be ok. I needed that.
He’s off and running now, and doing great.
Launch of the new season with the four us
The next weekend, Charles and I wanted to launch this new season as a family with Andre and Joelle. So, we went to Chicago, our first family time away as just the four of us.
Anytime one part of a family unit leaves, it changes the family dynamics. So we wanted to spend some quality time together, just the four of us, having fun and bonding in a new sort of way.
It was interesting to note little things like when we went for a bike ride, in the past Sylas may have been at the front of the pack, but this time around it was Andre’. I watched as Andre and Joelle interacted over private jokes. Little things, that only a parent would notice, seemed noteworthy to me about this past weekend. We’re on track, I thought.
So Sylas has been launched into this next season of life for him, and we back at home have launched our new season as a family. Here are a few picture highlights.
Move in day:
We’ve been to Chicago a lot, but this time we wanted to not just repeat what we’ve done in the past, but to try something new. It seemed fitting, with the new season and all. So, we mostly avoided the Magnificent Mile.
We ate at Smoque BB in Irving Park…. best BBQ around (we heard about it from Triple D’s)
After dinner, we went for a walk along Lake Michigan and enjoyed the water and scenery
The next morning, we stopped at a Starbucks in one of the Chicago neighborhoods and then rented bikes for an hour and rode the bike path along Lake Michigan (no pictures)
One of the events we wanted to take in was a recycled art festival. It turned out to not be that much to see, but we found a second hand store nearby with some cool treasures.
So summer ends, we move into the fall, just as we move from one season of our lives to the next.
“There was no sudden, striking, and emotional transition. Like the warming of a room or the coming of daylight. When you first notice them they have already been going on for some time.”- C. S. Lewis