No one talks about the little stabs of pain
That hit your heart
As a parent
The realization that one day
You put them down
And never picked them up again
The day they said that cute word correctly
For the first time
When they choose their friends
Over you
The slow, quiet, letting go
That lasts for years
Watching yourself turn from their whole world
Their sun
To a shadowy observer in the audience of their independence
Evermore 
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