“Slipping Through My Fingers” — ABBA

When September gives way to October each year, tears roll down parents’ cheeks like autumn leaves falling on a woodland floor as their sons and daughters take a final look around the bedroom they’ve lived in all their life.

The bundle of joy those parents brought home 18 years ago is all grown up, off to university, on the threshold of making their own way in the world…often far away from the home they grew up in and the friends they used to play with on the street outside.

Of course, there’s some anxiety in the hearts of those sons and daughters, but it’s mostly well camouflaged. And the heady sensation of embarking on a new adventure and the excitement of the unknown journey ahead helps counteract whatever anxiety they might feel.

Parents know this is all part of their babies growing up. But knowing that’s the way of the world doesn’t make the transition any easier.

The childish laughter that used to reverberate around your house will do so no more.

The baby whose tiny hands grasped your finger tightly as you held them in your arms is captured for all time in memories and photographs, but those young people will never be those babies again.

You’d gladly put up with that messy teenage bedroom you’ve been complaining about for years if only they’d stay in it a little bit longer.

Too quickly, it’s time to give your baby that last hug…for a while, at least. You breathe in deeply, trying to recreate…