Freedom is coming?!?!?!?!

It just hit me. And it feels weird. My son is due for high school next year - an age where boarding school is a possibility. And it's not like I'm trying to get rid of him, but it is an option.

I'm nearly at the stage where I'll be just me again, instead of me & son. Soon he will start to exit the nest, one feather at a time, and I have to figure out where that leaves me.

In a way it leaves me with a world of possibilities! I never got that just-out-of-school chance to backpack any number of countries. My son was born when I was 21, and I had to grow up fast. I haven't really had the chance to travel (cash plowed right into food and schooling every month). I haven't taken a whole lot of me-time ever, nor set aside an hour or so every day for things like a yoga class, sport, art or culture. I hardly know what it is to be a single adult - it seems there's always been the two of us.

Of course, I'll never stop being a mom. And for all the adventures I can imagine, I'd love my son to share them. But the day will come, and is coming, when he'll have a life of his own - where he won't want to hang around with mom.

And perhaps then I'll suddenly up and go to see the Himalayas, or indulge in a holiday in the south of France, or disappear for a week's silent retreat. Or even, just maybe, get a date... :)