Today I dropped off the youngest at Jazz Camp for the week and as I drove away, it struck me just how independent he's become. As soon as we'd collected his things from the car, he took off for the dorm and forgot I was even there in his excitement to reconnect with his friends from last year. After I gave him his things, he joined his friends and didn't even look up as I left.  Please don't get me wrong, he wasn't rude or disrespectful. He was ready to move on with this coming week. He was ready for this next mini chapter.

Tonight, idly looking at house listings, I started to wonder how ready I am. In 11 months, my oldest will graduate from high school.  He's nervous about it and I spent some time tonight talking about options with him. There's a local trade school especially for disabled people. They have a program that he might be interested in. I'll need to see if they do job placement or anything like that because if they don't, the program he's interested in is fairly useless.

Still, it got him thinking about changes too. He knows that after his brother graduates from high school, I have to move. We talked today about places I could move to. He asked me where I had friends because I don't have any here. He told me that he doesn't care where I move because it's my life and I have to be happy. It made me smile to hear such an adult thought come from him. He's growing up and I can no longer deny that both him and his brother are on the verge of adulthood. It won't be long before they'll be doing their own things and where will that leave me?

Creating a whole new world for myself.  For nearly 18 years now, I've been mom. That's been my role, my title, and my life. Soon though, I'll be having to make the tough decisions and trying to decide what's best, not for them, but for myself. In theory, I could move anywhere in the world. In reality, I think I'd better stay in this country..heh... That being said, there's a lot of country out there. I could stay nearby wherever the boys are. I could move somewhere random. There's also ...well, I don't really talk about this, but there's a man that I've fallen for and right now, circumstances outside of our control don't allow for us to be together, but who knows, maybe we might find ourselves in closer proximity.

That's a lot of well maybes, huh? There's also the question of what do I do with myself when mom isn't my full-time gig. I would really like to write and to make enough to be able to start paying off old bills. Wouldn't that be smashing? I think so. Of course, it means educating myself as to how to promote my writing better so that people know it exists. A friend on Facebook posted the other night that he met an author who makes about $60k a month (I think, a month was the time frame) but also spends $5-10k during that same time frame on advertising. That's a great return, but I have no way of investing that kind of money into myself. Is it possible to start the ball rolling without spending that kind of money? I have no idea. I guess that's where educating myself comes in.

So, here we are...about 2 years until I have to be moving on from where I'm at and a lot of decisions to make, a lot of work to do, and a lot of finding me that needs to happen before then.



If you like what you've read here, please share it with others using these buttons:

It's officially winter here in Michigan and with winter comes such morning joys as frozen doors on the car. Last weekend, this happened to me. It didn't bother me too much because I only had Roger here and he's had a habit for a while of climbing over my seat to get into his in the middle of the van. So, not worrying about it, we loaded off and went into town to go to the store.

While at the store, it suddenly occurred to me that we were buying things that needed to go into the back of the van. What if that door were frozen shut? Well, I could probably get the middle door open if I fought with it enough. Wait, where would Roger sit then? I guess I could make an exception and let him ride up front this one time. After all, he's not old enough to sit in the front seat. I'd always told the boys that they had to be at least 12 or 13 for that...Wait...oh merciful heavens, my youngest child, my baby was now old enough to sit in the front seat.

Yes, that entire thought processed raced through my mind and I had a minor panic attack that my babies were growing up. Luckily, the back door opened and I never had to deal with the reality of him actually sitting next to me and not behind me in the van. Whew! One realization at a time, thank you very much!

So, I have to ask..How old were your kids when you first let them sit in the front seat? Did it make your parent heart twinge a little to see them growing up?



If you like what you've read here, please share it with others using these buttons: