I didn’t realize Wave 36 was the beginning of something… not just a day off, but a shift in who I am becoming.
Last week, I asked my daughter to go to the pool with me.
It was the last day of school. I thought it would be simple—just the two of us, a quiet way to decompress and mark the end of a season.
She agreed… until we got home.
Then came the delays.
“I’m coming.”
“Just a minute.”
“Wait.”
But she never really came.
At some point, I got frustrated and said, “Fine. If you don’t want to spend time with me, I’ll go by myself.”
So I did.
And she followed later.
That’s when she said something that stayed with me.
“You don’t have to do everything with me.”
It shook me more than I expected.
Because the truth is… I still want to do everything with her.
For years, she has been the center of my world.
But something quietly shifted.
She is growing, and I am no longer the center of her life.
I am becoming something else—the place she returns to, not the place she revolves around.
That realization hurt… but it also opened something in me.
If she is learning to step into her own life…
Then maybe I am finally being invited back into mine.
Not only as a mother.
But as me.
A woman who also needs space.
Who also needs joy.
Who also needs her own moments again.
So I signed up for Pilates.
I went to yoga at the beach.
I said yes to painting classes.
I started choosing things that are just mine.
And something unexpected happened.
She noticed.
She felt it.
And quietly she asked me, “Can we still be besties?”
I smiled and said, “Yes. Always.”
Then I told her the truth:
“I love you. And I’m also learning to take care of myself.”
Because love doesn’t disappear when roles shift.
It just changes shape.
And maybe that’s what growing together really is.
Not holding tighter…
But learning how to stay connected while we both expand.
The moment I stopped being the center of her world, I realized I had never fully been the center of my own.
Maybe Wave 37 is about this: love doesn’t shrink when roles change—it expands.
And sometimes, when someone you love grows away from you… it isn’t loss.
It’s life gently pulling you back to yourself.
Have you ever realized someone you love is growing away from you… and discovered it was actually life inviting you back to yourself?
— TodayWaves
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