Don’t do it

It’s difficult to adjust to your child turning 18 and becoming an adult.

One day you’re making all the decisions, the next they don’t need to ask your permission to do anything.

They can go to the pub, stay out late, get their forehead pierced …

I am VERY unhappy about the piercing, which is booked for this Sunday, but telling teenagers not to do something just makes them want to do it more.

At the end of next year the youngest will finish the HSC and be racing towards 18 too.

She’s already talking about travelling the world solo, which scares the bejesus out of me. I want to protect her from everything, which is crazy when she’s taller and tougher than me – I wouldn’t be able to keep her safe from much at all.

For example, I was completely useless when she was surfing in the middle of the ocean in Fiji. I can’t even swim – all I could do was panic on the boat and frantically scan the water for her blonde head.

Just keeping her in sight was terrifying.

Both kids are away at the moment, so it’s very quiet in the house. It’s a shock to the system after having them around all the time during our disaster Fijian holiday and subsequent quarantine. Their dad has taken them to visit their aunt and cousins up north. I told him to drive safely and then relaxed in the knowledge that I didn’t have to cook again for a few days.

There has been a lot of eating at home since New Year’s Eve. I yearn to re-enter the world and raise a glass to my brief immunity to COVID-19.

However, Sydney isn’t herself at the moment. The Rocks was deserted on Monday night, literally nothing was open as we walked to our tall ship celebration. There was a moment as we drove home across the Sydney Harbour Bridge when there literally wasn’t another car to be seen at 8.30pm at night. Spooky.

It’s a very weird time in history. I look forward to it being the ancient type.

It’s also feels weird to say the youngest will finish high school next year. It’s a line in the sand of my life that I was hoping would mean spending more time in the sand.

It was meant to be the moment I could finally downsize and feel less financial pressure in my life, but the insanity of Sydney house prices mean I will need to leave the city to do that.

There are no crystal balls to tell me what the future holds, so I will need to wait and see what fate has in store for me. No doubt it will be an eventful ride.

I’d better buckle up!

Have a happy, safe weekend.

Song of the day: Bjork “It’s oh so quiet”