Just a girl and her dad and their early morning serious sides. Yesterday, we dropped her off at kindergarten and the look in her eyes clenched our hearts with its tiny fists and pleaded with us not to leave her there. Today, the look in her eyes keeps us at a distance and tells us she wants to go. And this is just the way of it.

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The way of it is we're likely to tread heavily on each other's nerves as she readies herself to leave. I've heard from enough who've gone before us to know there's precise purpose in this phenomenon. The burgeoning conflict that's likely to ensue between us will help her decide, yes, she really is ready to go. Ready enough. It will lead her dad and me by the hand to the resolution, yes, we're ready for her to leave. Ready enough.

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Years after my own mom dropped me off at college, she confided she had cried every day for three weeks straight. And then she stopped. So I know what's coming and I know it will pass.

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What I don't know and what's snagging my heart and pulling a loose thread each time this wonder comes too near is who will see the look in her eyes once she goes? It's this uncertainty that calls forth a tear to form in the corner of each of my eyes, months before she's due to leave. These tears stand ready at the gates as the forerunners to the others that hover on the verge of spilling out and unleashing the flow of the multitude right behind them.

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We've seen the dazzling look of triumph in her eyes at winning and we've seen the look of despair at losing. We've seen the solaced look of acceptance and the anguished look of rejection. Who is going to see the look in her eyes when she leaves?

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We've seen the look in her eyes of determination, fear, pain, love, sickness, anxiety, elation, good health, apology, longing, confusion, humor, joy, unease and anticipation. Who is going to see all this in her eyes when we're not there to do it anymore?

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Who is going to see the look in her eyes and be able to respond in kind? Or with just the right amount of loving pushback or encouraging perspective? Who is going to hold her heart long enough for the look in her eyes to feel seen when we let go of being able to cradle it each day?

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I just don't know the answer to these questions. And neither does she. But she's ready to leave and go learn them. And so we will get ourselves ready to let her go. Ready enough. And that's just the way of it.