My oldest daughter just turned 18 . Ok, so I'm one of those nostalgic, emotional moms. I'll spare you the rememberances of her as a newborn.

 We took a day trip to a town about an hour away called Yang Shua.  It has great western restraunts and really cool shops.  If the weather would have been a bit warmer we would have rented bikes.  Maybe we'll take another trip in a couple of months when the weather is more accomodating.

EJ got an email from Nana today wishing her a happy birthday.  She also told her that if she chose to go to a Jr. College near her, she'd help her get a car!  That was pretty exciting.  We spent much of the afternoon looking through the catalog for the school, I was drooling over courses *I* would take if I could.

As we were talking she started voicing some fears and concerns.  "I don't know if I want to do this" (Fine, you don't have to) "What if I fail" "I'm not very disciplined" etc, etc.  This kind of bothered me.  One thing I'd really like to instill in my kids is a good sense of confidence.  That they can take on these challenges.  Of course I said all the encouraging Mom things

She talked about all the choices she had.  How complicated it is when there are so many interests to choose from.  We talked about how great it was to HAVE so many choices.  I talked about the fact that she doesn't have to decide for her whole life RIGHT NOW.  That the things that I really would love to take classes in now, I wouldn't have even been interested in when I was 18.  We learn and change and grow.

As I voiced my concerns over feeling unsure of herself she said something that really helped me.  Paraphrased she said, "I'm sure a lot of people worry about failing when they go off and begin a new phase".  And I said, "you're right".  Don't we all feel this way from time to time?  This really put things in perspective for me.  I'm so busy trying to equip them for every contingency that sometimes I forget that she is going to feel the things that I and everyone else has felt and struggled with at one time or another.  That too is a part of this growing up thing. 

Time to let her fly

doulos