Hi everyone,
I wrote a blog recently in which I mentioned my surprise at just how easily Shmi lets her only child leave home. It's a subject dear to my heart at the moment as my two daughters have in one case just returned home and in the other are just about to leave.
My daughters are 12 and 18 years old.
My eldest daughter leaves for Leeds Met University next week, to study for a degree in Public Relations. She's going to be staying 'in halls' which is essentially a flat share, whilst she studies. But which means, to all intents and purposes she's leaving home. She won't admit it, of course and has told Isaac that he'll have to put his plans for swapping his smaller room for her room on hold.
My youngest daughter has just returned from a week away at Durham University, she'd been invited to attend to study Anthropology as part of the Gifted and Talented Program (she gets it from her mam).
Despite the tearful goodbyes and our worries she had a great time, as I knew she would. But I know one day too soon I'll be waving her off as she goes to University herself.
I'm not one of those parents who wish that my offspring would stay babies forever, I love watching my kids as they grow up and I'm really proud of them all and I know that they'll be fine as they grow up and have a great time doing it.
But it's really terrifying to think of them going off on their own into the world even if it's only just over an hour's drive away, never mind the far flung corners of a GFFA.
It's taking my wife a remarkable amount of self-restraint to stop her tackling our eldest daughter and pinning her to the ground and we know she's going to be just a phone call away but it's still incredibly scary.
This is why I just can't reconcile Shmi's reaction when told that Anakin is to be taken from her to be trained as a Jedi (not even a 'cool' and hi-five).
I know Shmi believes that Anakin is 'special' but then don't all parents believe this about our kids and I wonder what if anything Anakin ever thought about this.

The title is what my eldest said when looking around the flat that we'll be paying for. Oh and the picture, well she is going to be studying PR.

MTFBWY DB