When They Leave The Nest

As all of us know there will come a day when our children will move out on their own. For those of us with a child who has diabetes it is much different. In August our oldest Adam moved out on his own with 3 friends. Adam has had diabetes for 6 years now. As you can imagine I was a wreck. Adam was moving really not far at all (around the corner from us) so we knew he had a safe place. The fact that he was rooming with 3 friends also helped to ease our stress level. At the very least they all know he has diabetes and what to do if he needs assistance. Still I worried and when driving by always checked to see if he was in and all was alright.

Now 5 months later he is still doing well, of course they have had the growing pains of getting use to living with each other, but over all they have been doing well. Adam has really grown and is discovering things like, If you work more hours you make more money. Insurance is important and what a co-pay is (when it comes out of your pocket). He's learning how to make his own hair appointment, and what its like to go out at 2 am when your roommate can't get his car started. He's learning how to shovel his car out without a plow and how to clean up after others. We are amazed at all the growing he has done in such a short period of time. As any mother I did not want to see this day come and in all honesty i was secretly hoping he would want to come back home, but no he is adapting, growing and maturing.

We as moms sometimes hate to admit that there will come a day when they don't really need us, Ok they still need us they just don't want us to know it, and that's what I was thinking today when out of the blue don't I get a phone call from Adam, Hey Mom just wanted to let you know that I arrived in Utica ok! He had made a trip with one of his roommates to another friends who is a couple of hours away and one of the things that we always asked was for our children to let us know when they arrived safely when going places. It was such a nice feeling to know that he still thought to call and let me know where he was and that he arrived safely. Makes you just want to hug him!

So as I continue to adapt to our oldest exploring the world of independence I am gratful for our thursday night dinners together and for his warm heart, never afraid to give a hug and most of all for remembering to let mom know he is ok!

Julie