Fleeing The Nest

New blogger alert!! My name is Mary and I am a 42 year old mother of two. My eldest son Liam has just finished his A levels and will soon be heading off to his new student accommodation in Nottingham to continue his education. I am absolutely bursting with pride, he has worked really hard to get to this point and I know he will go on to be really successful in whatever he chooses to do. But along with the excitement I am also feeling a little sad, worried and nervous about how he will cope so far from home.  I am sure there will be thousands of anxious parents out there who are feeling exactly the same as me right now, so I just thought I would share my thoughts with you as our little angels prepare to head out into the big bad world all alone.

It seems like only yesterday I was holding him in my arms nursing him to sleep. When they say ‘cherish every moment, they grow-up so fast’ I now know exactly what they mean. When I look at him now I just can’t believe how fast he has grown and in a few short weeks he will be leaving home to live in Nottingham...miles away!! We live in Scarborough so it is quite a trek down to Nottingham. we will probably only see Liam in the holidays once he has moved.

Last week we spent a few days looking at student properties in Nottingham wit the help of shields student homes. I have to say things have improved somewhat since I was at university. Students used to make do with a cramped bedsit and it was almost a competition to find the grottiest hovel you could.

Seriously….! Some students would actually take some kind of sick, twisted pride in the fact they had never cleaned the loo! We had already found several student properties we were interested in viewing online. Rent seems to vary depending on the size, location and standard of accommodation but it all seems fairly reasonable. Nottingham has a huge student population and certain areas are virtually overtaken by students. This has put my mind at rest a little bit, at least I know he won’t be walking around alone in an unfamiliar city.

Liam would go nutty if he knew I was writing about him in this way so I am hoping he does not find out!  I’m sure I don’t need to tell you how easy it is to completely destroy the street cred of a 19 year old boy. But this blog is not intended to embarrass him in any way, it is simply my way of dealing with the fact my little boy is fleeing the nest to live in student accommodation in Nottingham.  Hopefully by sharing my thoughts and experiences I can  help other Mummys (can’t remember the last time he called me that!) through this difficult but incredibly proud and happy time.