Today we take our daughter Eliza to university in Liverpool, the same university I went to in 1988 and we're taking her to the halls of residence on the same site as the ones I stayed in for my first year. There are lots of emotions going on obviously. Leaving home is such a massive rite of passage and as a parent it's one of those cycle of life moments, something that you want it so much when you're eighteen- I could not wait to leave home- which suddenly feels very different when you're the adult and it's your child leaving. I remember sitting in a pub the night before I went to Liverpool and a woman at the bar, probably in her 30s looked at me and said I looked far too young to be going to live in Liverpool. So off we go, taking her to live in another city and although she'll be back and we're really proud of her, we're obviously going to miss her and her company as well.
Back in 2014 she was 11 and starting secondary school. I took her to the bus stop and this song played in my head when I walked back home as the us went off around the corner. Yo La Tengo in 1993 and some blistering indie rock...
Here are some L postcode local heroes, four moptop/ bequiffed boys from Liverpool in 1984, singing of crystal days, joy, pain and misfit ways.
Finally, this one is by Andy Bell, the Ride/ Glok one not the Erasure one, and a song from his gorgeous 2020 album The View From Halfway Down. I read an interview with Andy earlier this year and he talked about how the song Skywalker was about his daughter as she reached eighteen and went off into the world and at the moment I read it I realised which lines were going to hit when this day came to pass...
'Let the girl go and watch her spiral away/ You're not the centre of her world now anyway/ There's nothing left to say/ Her future flows out from from today/ On the restless crest of a wave/ Just starting to be...'
Great post. That's exactly the position we'll be in next week when we take my son to Portsmouth. I went there in the late eighties/early nineties and had a ball. We're proud too...he was a very anxious little kid but he's developed reserves of resilience that will serve him well. Daughter went off to a different uni a couple of years ago. It's going to be very quiet indeed here, with just a hint of sadness, even if it is the normal scheme of things. I've got a lump in my throat from having read those lyrics now.
ReplyDeleteHope all goes well Adam.
All the best to Eliza on her new adventures.
ReplyDeleteAnd best to you guys too, coping with her departure.
Thanks both, all went well, she seems very settled and we survived.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful words and loving sentiment SA.
ReplyDeleteBig day, Adam. So many emotions. Hope it’s going well. Fine song selections to illustrate the occasion.
ReplyDeleteMy oldest daughter will leave for college next August and you've already got me choked up about it. In all likelihood I'll post these same lyrics to mark the occasion when the time comes, so please accept my thanks in advance. I hadn't known this song before. Best of everything to you and your daughter.
ReplyDeleteA really moving post, Adam, and I'm glad to read that everything went as well as could be hoped for yesterday. I'm still a few years away from this momentous occasion with my daughter, and I'm already dreading it.
ReplyDeleteEliza now off to Uni. Wow. Time passes. Hope she has a great time.
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