My new daughter turned 18!

How do parents really feel when their child turns 18? Do they feel sad because their baby isn’t a baby anymore? Do they feel happy because they made a baby and were successfully able raise that baby into adulthood? Or are they sad because an 18th birthday is an undeniable sign that they are getting older?

I’ve had friends say to me, “OMG, you have an 18 year old!” And I’m here like, “I know!” When actually, I don’t really know. Yes, I know she just turned 18, but like, I just met her eight years ago!

I didn’t make her and she didn’t come from me. She and I were introduced and very quickly, I was forced to an early stage of pre-teen parenting. I had no idea what I was doing. I took it day by day, and really, let’s be real, I just wanted her to like me! I liked her Dad, so she HAD to like me or else my plan would be foiled! haha It was as if I was making a friend. I did not have the mother-baby connection and all those years of memories – from waking up for midnight feedings and diaper changes to losing her first tooth and learning how to ride a bike – I am a stranger to those parts of her.

I did get the parts where she was super emotional and extremely jealous that two little sisters were taking her spot light. What was I supposed to do? That part was really hard.

I got the part of her life where she refused to wear her hair curly because her natural curls were hideous to her. I told her this phase would pass and it did; she hasn’t touched a straightener in two years.

One of our favorites parts – the time where she spent all of her elementary years too afraid to defend herself against mean girls to the moment she defended herself by punching a boy who “accidentally” kicked her. She got suspended on the last day of school. Whoops.

I got the parts when she she started hiding stuff from and would sneak out of the house on secret a rendezvous to Beluga point with BOYS she DIDN’T KNOW.  (They didn’t do anything, in case you were wondering.)

I also got the part where she tried out of the volleyball team and didn’t make it. She cried. And when I dropped her off to her first day of work. I cried.

I may have not gotten to bury my face in her baby-powder-smelling neck or bite her chunky baby legs, but man, I really did get the best parts of her. My timing to trap her father could not have been better. haha

I don’t really know how parents feel when their kid turns 18. But me? I’m EXCITED. She thinks parenting is done for me because she’s an adult? Girl please, my parenting just started! I’m looking forward to the relationship parts, the college parts, the career parts, etc. The better parts of her life are yet to come!

Countdown: 67 days till Graduation