The next 19 years

[skysidhe]

So you've spent 19 years being a mom then they grow up and there's this vacumn. One more year of transfer courses then it's off to a University. I am excited for him but excited I get one more chance to help by dorm items which I think is pathetic.

I feel pathetic. I don't want to be one of those old people who talk about memories without building any new ones but I do find myself missing the early years.

I want to do cupcakes at school, halloween trick or treating. It's really weird. This transition. It's the biggest peaceful empty bubble evah!

[classicman]

wow - you sound a lot like me last year. Its a tough transition, but it can be a great experience to relearn all about this wonderful human being you've guided this far into the world.

[ZenGum]

Don't worry. He'll move back in just as soon as he finishes college. While he, you know, tries to save for his own place.

[skysidhe]

I know you're both right.

[classicman]

I'll hopefully have downsized by that time and relocated to a place that is close enough for visiting, but far enough that they won't want to live with me.

[Shawnee123]

Right before I graduated from college, I told my mom "Mom, you know, a lot of young people these days are opting to move back in with their parents for a couple years." My mom replied "A lot of parents aren't giving that option." My mom's a hoot. When I was a pre-teen, she told me when I got married she would give me a thousand dollars and a ladder.

Of course, if I needed to my childhood home would have been open, but they really did want me to be independent.

Hang in there, sky!

[Sundae]

Originally Posted by Shawnee123

Of course, if I needed to my childhood home would have been open, but they really did want me to be independent.

Same as my parents. They'd have me back in a heartbeat if they really thought it was my only option. But they'd make sure I had been through every other possible option first.

They love all of us, but as far as they are concerned we're adults now, and they are enjoying the life that they worked hard for, for 40+ years.

Oh and I paid rent/ housekeeping from the age of 16, as did my sister. My brother was in school til he was 18, but he paid from then. I'm not going to pretend it was anything like market rates, but it did impress on us that we were living in their house, not our house any more. In fact I paid 1/2 of the phone bill while I lived at home, because I was so fed up with my Mum locking the phone when she went out, as it meant my friends couldn't call me. They were quite shocked when I moved out and there was hardly a dip in the phone bill (these are the days before itemised billing). That was one of my few valid teen grips - I told you I hardly ever used the phone!

[HungLikeJesus]

I tried to go back to my childhood home, but the people who lived there had changed the locks.

[dar512]

Originally Posted by HungLikeJesus

I tried to go back to my childhood home, but the people who lived there had changed the locks.

Why did they pave the lawn?
why did they change the locks?
Why did I have to break it, I only came here to talk
This is where we used to live

[Shawnee123]

Originally Posted by dar512

Why did they pave the lawn?
why did they change the locks?
Why did I have to break it, I only came here to talk
This is where we used to live

OMG, I was so just thinking of quoting them in the Wheels of Fortune thread, but wasn't sure it fit:

Driving home to be with you
The highway's dividing, the city's in view
As usual, I'm almost on time
You're the last thing that's on my mind
I wish I could tell you the way that I feel
But tonight is the night I fell asleep at the wheel

No commotion, no screaming brakes
Most of it's over before I awake
From the ceiling, my coffee cup drips
While out my window, the horizon does flips
The worst part was hitting the ground -
Not the feeling so much as the sound
Can't help but wonder if all this is real
Cause tonight is the night I fell asleep at the wheel

Rubberneck traffic and passersby
And Slow Motion Walter the fire engine guy
Stand around with their mouths open wide
I heard some idiot ask if someone's inside
With the Jaws of Life they tried and they tried
Nobody here can know how I feel
Cause tonight is the night I fell asleep at the wheel...etc

[Clodfobble]

I would never have willingly moved back in with my parents, no way no how. Summer after freshman year was bad enough, from that point on I made sure to secure housing that didn't close for the summer.

[skysidhe]

lol @ HLJ and Classicman.


rat's clodfobble....most kids like free rent. Must have been rough

[Clodfobble]

Not rough--I just have a fierce sense of independence. Strange, I know. Free rent means it's not mine, to do with as I please.

[xoxoxoBruce]

The rent is never free... they make you pay one way or another.

[Shawnee123]

I was pretty independent too. When my parents and I dropped my older brother off at college (he is two years older than I) it was all sad and scary (of course, he is the oldest, so there's that) but when they dropped me off I was like "kisses, love you, careful going home...hey roomie where's the party?"

Living with the 'rents would have been hard for me...but I knew the option was there if I really needed it.