Courtney © Tim Pannell Photography

I just finished cleaning my 19 year old daughter’s bedroom.  She left for college on Sunday morning.  I’m one sad daddy.

We packed up all her stuff she needed into our minivan and her little car and she and my wife drove off on Sunday morning.

I can’t walk into a room without seeing a photograph of her………it’s brutal.

She’s our 3rd child to leave the nest.  We have 2 more at home, thankfully.

It’s a stupid and corny old cliche, but they do grow up so fast.

© Tim Pannell Photogaphy

I remember the day she was born like it was yesterday.  She was either screaming at the top of her lungs or content beyond belief, either – or, hot or cold, no in between.

She was such a teeny little thing.  The first time you hold that tiny baby in your hands…….as a dad, all you want to do is make her happy and keep her safe.  You’d do anything for her.  I always wonder if any of our kids really understand that.

I look back at all my mom had to go through raising my 2 sisters and me and I was appreciative of it then as a kid, but I didn’t have a true grasp of all she was going through at the time.

I remember her first day of school, first day at Disneyland first cheerleading tryouts, first date, prom, graduation, first day of college.

© Tim Pannell Photography

She did her first year of prereqs at the community college last year.  She’s now going 700 miles away to start on her dental hygienist program.

“Mixed emotions” doesn’t come close to explaining how I feel.  I’m excited for her to be on her own and get a taste of the real world, but I’m gonna miss her more than she’ll understand.

She’s not the first to leave home.

© Tim Pannell Photography

Our oldest daughter is “special needs”, (I hate that term) she lives in a group home a few miles away with a girlfriend of hers.  It’s a great house and she has a ball there, she was bored out of her mind at home with us.  She comes home on the weekends and hangs out with us, anything longer than that and she gets a little antsy.

Our oldest son got a year and a half of college in, served as a missionary in Cambodia for 2 years and went back to college.  He’s been home for the summer and heads back up to school in just  a few days.

© Tim Pannell Photography

It was hard letting him go too, but at the risk of sounding sexist (sorry) it’s different with my daughter.  There’s an altogether different dynamic and connection.  I can’t really explain it.  I miss her already.

I know she’s going to do great and be extremely successful at whatever she does in life.  She’s very self motivated and once she decides she wants to do something, she is tenacious at accomplishing it.  I’m very proud of her.

© Tim Pannell Photography

I look at the pictures we have of her around the house and I’m grateful for all those memories we have.

I love our family!  I wonder where the next 10 years will take us.

© Tim Pannell Photography