Pages

Saturday, August 15, 2015

When Your Youngest Child Turns 21

I was recently looking at a picture of my extended family that was taken when my second child was born 25 years ago and I suddenly realized that my parents in that picture were my age today (my mother and I are exactly 25 years apart in age) and somehow, while the math works out perfectly, I was shocked.  I do now get that while I most definitely feel my age, that I was not particularly good at figuring out where they were in their lives at that time, because for sure I didn't think about them the way I think about myself right now.  Perspective is a terrible thing to waste, so I hope that I can make something of this other than the fact that I have gotten much older than I realized.  The gift and the curse of having few mirrors in my house.

The age of majority is a moving target, but I think that other than renting a car, most people would agree that a person of 21 is indeed an adult, at least in terms of the law, if not otherwise, and today my youngest crosses that momentous threshold.  So I am officially done with one phase of my life as a parent.  I am not really sure that I am ready for the next phase of parental responsibilities, but one doesn't get to delay moving forward.  It happens, with or without you. So I hope I can enjoy the ride.

No comments:

Post a Comment