Two years ago I brought my son up to Bangor to start his university career. This afternoon I drove him there once again so he can begin his final degree year. Seeing him off to Bangor has become fairly routine, yet the day we brought him for the first time lives in my mind. His leaving home was not a gradual process, rather it happened all at once one Sunday afternoon in September. When we got home he was not there but instead beginning a new life away from everything that was familiar. In the weeks that followed I phoned and text too often; it took me a year to come to terms with it. Of course everything has turned out well: he has enjoyed university and is successfully tackling his academic work. To all of you that will go through a similar experience in the next weeks my best wishes and I trust you will deal with it better than I did.
I think letting our children grow up is probably the hardest thing we parents have to do. I started the on the path for my own degree because one day I walked into my twelve year old son's bedroom whilst he was at school and suddenly realised he wouldn't always be there, that one day his bedroom would always be empty. I figured if I didn't do something that fulfilled me outside of the home, I would be lost once my boys were grown and away.
ReplyDeleteIt must have been very hard for you in the first year to adjust, but I think it was best to err on the side of texting/phoning too much than too little.
As an aside, a friend of mine once told me than in the first few months she was away at uni, she phoned her mother and, during the course of the conversation, happened to mention how cold her halls of residence were. A week later she opened a package off her mother which contained a luminous pink balaclava that she had knitted for her. Try as she might, she could not bring herself to wear this fashion essential whilst studying, no matter how cold she got.
If you resisted the urge to send your son such items, I suspect you did okay.
Now I had not thought of a pink balaclava, but it might be just the thing he requires to keep the cold out this winter.
ReplyDeleteI am in awe of those that embark upon a university degree when they have to combine the pressures of parenthood. I did it the easy way.
Thank you for your comments.
Hi Tim You are scaring me to death, I have another year before this scenario hits and already I am struggling!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteVeronica