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Show Parents : It takes one to know one p.g. blab t The day we had looked forward to, and which I had worried about at the same time, came this week when our son left the MTC for Uruguay. He has been in the MTC since Sept. 13 and although we have not seen him, he seemed pretty close over there in Provo. Uruguay seems a long way away. He was so excited and so was 1, but with reservations. I was talking to my friend, Joan Merrill, who has sent four sons on missions. She said, "Just don't think about it." So, I'll try not to think about it, too much. I'm not good at letting my children go. I know that they need to marry and move away, or go on missions, or go to college or move away to work but it is hard to let go. It is nice having them around so that we can see them on a regular basis. Sixteen months in Uruguay will not provide for a regular basis, I'm afraid. It is funny how when I left home to go to college,- I didn't think that maybe Mom would miss me. I missed her and would call everytime I had a sniffle or a tummy ache. I went home that first term as often as I could. (It got better after that and I maybe Mom was missing us too. Then, suddenly, you have grownup children. They leave for one reason or another and then you stop to think that what you are feeling is probably what your folks felt when you left. Now I feel guilty. It is easy for me to feel guilty. I'm just that type of a person. I used to go listen to Ed Pinegar during Education Week at BYU and during his lectures I would begin to feel guilty that there was something I had not done to make life happier, more secure, more fun, more spiritual, more wholesome for them. I would want to jump up and run home and gather them into my arms and do all the things I felt like I had failed to do. I have had the same feelings other times in my life. It usually happens after I've been to a lecture on something. It doesn't matter what the subject is, I have omitted something in my life on that subject which makes me feel guilty. I feel guilty if I run into the dentist and we owe him a gob of money. I feel guilty if I can't do all the community service that I am asked to do and I don't have enough time to do. I feel guilty if one of the kids calls home and I am WhllemysonisKon(;, wake up at night K,IrM bad time to wVr ; fuzzy and everyth worse at nieht vA B soin.' the next motfe worrying about 5 seems almost JJ , comparison. "Wicam , I wonder why that is1 ' I worry that I have hun e feelings. I worry that something that offend! 0 worry that people will nn 1 Joingmybestwo" 2 I worry about geJ ? !, done, worry about the kids It goes on and on , Mostly, while my son i I be joyous that te ! amproudofhimandaltholT" 1 m.sshim,iwiiinoUh 0U6M,: , will support him and l et''': encourage him, but I wil 5 ' aboutthedistan'ce.ltis; I If you see me cryine , w week, just ignore it Do 'u ' about it, don't feel J " J JustjommemafewteaaS be okay. So will you. uu- didn't need to go home so often. ) I really didn't worry that she might miss me when I got married. We went home when we wanted to eat a real good meal which we could not afford on our small salary. I got homesick on several occasions, especially when we lived in California. But, I didn't worry that |