The times they are a changing
| My son will graduate from high school this Friday. He doesn’t turn eighteen until Sept. But I figure once he’s a high school grad he’s pretty much grown. He’s always telling me I need to cut the umbilical cord.
Anyway, there is a part of me that is really excited about him growing up because once he is an adult I don’t have to be one anymore. I won’t be legally responsible for anyone but myself. It won’t be considered child abandonment if I just take off and stay gone for weeks at a time. I doubt I’ll have any more money but I won’t feel as guilty about spending my money on me, me, me, instead of the kids. I’m not too worried about the empty nest syndrome. My daughter lives less than a mile away and comes home nearly every day for something. Usually money. He is planning to go to college at (not OSU his dear ole mum’s Alma Marta) but that other Oklahoma university right down the street from my house. So he’ll be living at home at least his freshman year. They got rules. Still, I’ve been a mother -stop laughing Bill- most of my life. So it will be an adjustment. Of course I will still be their mother but there is a difference in being the mother of minors and adults. I’m accustomed to telling them what to do. Not that I actually expect them to do what I tell them. I will probably always put in my two cents worth. But how do I transition from the ‘because I’m your mother and I said so’, parent to the ‘may I offer my opinion’, parent? The Klingon in me says, “Just beat your opinion into them!” But the Klingon in me isn’t always reasonable. (Of course I would never tell her that) |
