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Most moms of high school or college age kids and beyond will be able to relate to this poem. Somehow, on some unremarkable day that came without warning, my kids decided that I was no longer as much fun to hang-out with, when compared to their peers.

I didn’t change. I’m the same Mom who knows them better than most of their friends, and loves them, way more than their friends do. Shouldn’t I have first place? Well, not exactly. I mean, yes, but not all the time. Stop deluding yourself.

Come to their intramural sports games, plays, choir concerts, dance recitals or tennis matches? Definitely! Treat them to lunch? Sure! Hang out at a coffee shop with their friends or go to a movie with their friends? “Ahh… well…um… Sorry. That’s a ‘No.’” Of course, this is all very normal and necessary, but still somehow, unsettling. How did this subtle change happen right under my nose? Time marches on.