Basking in the sunshine...

It's not too many weeks ago that I was still anxious about how Ben would cope with being away at university - eating, thinking and socially. But I'm astonished at how rapidly he has moved from the last little bit of the woods out into the brilliant sunshine. He is so normal. In every way. And I have every confidence that, if he continues like this, university will be the making - not breaking - of him.


So with just two more weeks to go until we 2012 parents dump our offspring off at university, I am just like any other mother: piles of stuff on the spare bed - pots, pans, cleaning stuff, etc, and making the most of the two remaining weeks we have together.

But I already I sense he is growing up. Already he is becoming independent and putting a natural distance between himself and me, just as any 18 year old or young adult. After all, why the heck would you want to mix with boring 50-somethings like us when you can have fun with people your own age!

"Another senior moment," he says as my menopausal brain makes me put the breakfast cereal in the fridge.

He is like any other teenage boy taking the mickey out of his parents.

And I have every confidence he will eat properly and be able to successfully manage his intake during a busy freshers' week - and the following week when everyone gets down to the serious business of studying.

We hope...

I really hope I can look back on this post a year from now and know I was right to feel so confident and take a back seat.

Meanwhile I am looking forward to my first real freedom for three years: free to do whatever I want to do.

Wow!