A Practical Walk

Both my kids are growing up…of course they are, that’s what people do. My thoughts and feelings on this are a little scattered, so I’m just gonna go with it and we’ll see how cohesive (or not) this post ends up!

This picture makes me miss those days of them being little!

I feel it the most in my daughter right now, which makes sense, she’s the oldest. She’s a senior. She got her first job (not counting working for dad).

I’m so, so happy that she plans to go to the local college (where she’s already doing 2 classes for dual credit), and live here at home!! I am very aware that she could be moving an ocean away as she launches into college life. Growing up in a foreign country myself and then taking our own kids overseas, I’ve seen it happen over and over; the parents work in another country, and the kids move back to their passport country after graduation. I’ve seen it work out fine and I’ve seen it work out not so fine. A lot depends on the kid. What’s their personality? Will they tell you if they need you to come back? Are they independent enough? Do they have a good support system, maybe in family, friends, or a church? Now that we’re getting to that age, I’m realizing just how hard that would be and my heart is overflowing with gratefulness that we get to keep living together a little longer!

Also with living together….what’ll be different after she graduates? I feel like a lot of Americans view turning 18 as the magic age you become an adult, but I view becoming an adult as a more gradual thing.

Her first time driving alone.

Do you (or did you) have post-highschoolers living with you? How did things change? How did things stay the same? Anything you’d do differently?