My youngest Remi, turned 18 today!

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Which means something quite strange has happened in my life, I now have two adult children!

I’ve been a mum since I was 18 myself, so this moment feels oddly full circle. Half my life, actually more than half now has been spent raising these two humans.

School runs, packed lunches, the teenage moods, late night chats, worrying, laughing, trying to get it right… and sometimes just absolutely winging it.

People make a big deal about 18, like parenting suddenly stops there. Of course it doesn’t. Anyone who’s a parent knows that’s not how it works. You don’t clock off. You don’t stop caring. You don’t stop showing up.

But there is a shift.

Not a dramatic one. More like a quiet realisation that you don’t get the final say anymore.

They step into their own lives now and you have no choice but to loosen your grip a bit. You move from being the one steering the way to standing on the side lines hoping what you taught them about life, sticks.

And will they mess up? Of course they will.
We raise real people. And real people make mistakes, take wrong turns, learn things the hard way sometimes. That’s part of becoming who you’re meant to be.

So now here I am. Two adult children.

It’s a strange feeling. A proud one. A reflective one. A bit emotional if I’m honest.

And it also leaves me with another question ‘What now?‘

For the first time in decades, the mother role that shaped my entire adult life is changing shape. I’m going to take a bit of time to sit with that and figure out what the next chapter looks like.

But for now, I’m mostly just grateful. Grateful for the chaos, the life lessons, the laughter, the growth…both theirs and mine.

And I am so very proud of the two adults they’ve become.