Mommy Stalker
I am pretty sure I have become one. Yes. Me. A mommy stalker.
No, I am not stalking young mothers with strollers in the park, that would be concerning! I am the mommy and I think I am stalking my kids. Certainly my daughter.
She is 19 and away at college. Really away. Like halfway across the country away. Still not sure what we were thinking when we were supportive of this. But how could we not be. She is so happy there and her college life is all that she dreamed it would be. As a good friend once said, "It's good for THEM." Us? A whole other story for sure.
The tough part is not being able to see her often. This coupled with her summers away working at a sleep away camp and last year's trip to Israel in between, we are hardly together.
Here is where the stalking comes in. We were sitting at dinner during Thanksgiving and she caught me...
staring!
Not just looking at her. I have to admit I was really staring at her. Trying to drink her in I suppose. If you are parent of a child who has flown the nest you get it. Really get it. Lump in the throat and pit in the stomach get it. But if you are a 19-year-old young woman all you get is that your mom is becoming...
a stalker.
Do you think there is a support group for this?
i TOTALLY get this. in more ways than you can imagine!
Posted by: the planet of janet | December 02, 2008 at 09:02 PM
I do this sometimes with the children who still live at home, because they change so quickly! Girls go from little girls to young women in about 98 seconds. Boys take slightly longer, say, 3 minutes. I'll be chatting with one of them, and catch myself staring, taken aback yet again by how the transformation is so fast that you can practically see it happening, minute to minute. Amazing.
Posted by: Ilona | December 03, 2008 at 01:44 PM
If you find that support group let me know. I've been to the middle of the country to visit the college kid twice since August, and I do believe it gets on her nerves that I keep hugging her. :)
Posted by: Molly | December 04, 2008 at 03:53 PM
molly, don't kid yourself. she secretly loves it
Posted by: amyz5 | December 04, 2008 at 08:16 PM
I have an 18 year old college freshman, even when she's home from school she really isn't home -- she's out with her friends. so yeah, I get it.
Posted by: songbird | December 08, 2008 at 10:09 AM