As of last weekend, that's how many days my daughter, a senior at LCHS, had left before graduation.

Wow.

Where has the year gone? Where do any of them go? Time is relative, it seems, and the more you have of it, the longer it seems to last.

At the start of this school year, I went through the panic of everything being the last time for my daughter, as well as my family. Madison is our youngest, and in a few short months, only my wife and I and our small menagerie of cats and dogs will remain at home.

I think it's perfectly normal to experience this sensation. In fact, you'd have top be a pretty hardened cookie not to be a bit melancholy about the whole thing.

In the late fall, I was able to push these feelings down deep, and I took on a "take things as they come" attitude about the year. This philosophy has served me well until the past few weeks. At solo and ensemble contest, the old feelings bubbled back up, and this past weekend at the spring play and show choir banquet, it all came back, and I'm putting the cork back in the bottle.

Change, as I've said so many times, is the lone constant in life. if you delude yourself into thinking that things will remain as they are, you are in for a rude awakening. It may not come today, or even next week, but change will come, and it should really be embraced.

There are landmarks in our lives, and the 12 month period from September of 2007 through September 2008, is chock full for my family. My oldest daughter, Lindsay, was married last September. It was a wonderful day that will live in my memories forever. Change, but wonderful change as you see your child passing through some of the same landmarks in their lives as you have experienced.

Madison will graduate next month. She has had a wonderful experience at LCS, and will go on to college in the fall. That landmark is over 21, er, under 21 days away and I imagine we will be very busy making sure it is very special.

Lindsay and her husband Thomas are expecting the birth of their first child in August. They had an ultrasound done last week and have determined that it is a girl and all is well. They have purchased a crib and are busy making preparations for a huge landmark in their lives.

I can vividly recall the birth of both of my children. After Lindsay was born, a wave of self realization washed over me that I had begun to fulfill my purpose in life. Madison's birth reinforced my belief that I needed to do my best to help form adults that would treat others as they would be treated and hope that when they were judged on the content of their character that they would not be found wanting.

It's at these landmark events that you get glimpses of how well you have done your job as a parent. They are joyful times, but can also be quite scary. Without fear we would never know joy.

So we have 21 days to get our act together and gird ourselves for the next landmark in a season of landmarks in our family's history. Not much time, but I'm sure it will all be fine.

August and September are many, many days away. Days meant to savor, remember and prepare.

So, fellow parents of seniors, hang in there. We made it this far, there's no way we are not seeing this baby all the way through.

As always, I welcome your comments. You can reach me by email at tstangl@lemarscomm.net, telephone 712-546-7031, x40 or toll free 1-800-728-0066 x40.

Thanks for reading, I'll keep in touch. Feel free to do the same.