<p>And this is for skiersmom…my D is a skier. She traveled alone the summer at age 19 within Europe and went skiing in the French Alps alone. Then at age 20, while abroad for a semester, she traveled alone to the Italian Alps to attend a World Cup ski race. Both times stayed in hotels alone and skied on her own.</p>
<p>Over this coming winter break, D is talking of traveling to Viet Nam, Cambodia and Laos. :eek:</p>
<p>When I was 21, future SIL and I hopped in her Thunderbird and drove from Athens, GA to central Pennsylvania – me to visit DH (then BF) in Philadelphia and her to find a pharmacy internship. We stopped off to tell her parents before we left that we were doing this. No questions allowed – it was a fait accompli. We drove all night, I got a speeding ticket on I-95, no cellphones. Never did tell my parents. </p>
<p>And they thought I was such a good girl…</p>
<p>Soozie-- YOU WIN!!!</p>
<p>Counting-- No fair- you were the kid, not the worrier, uh the parent! :)</p>
<p>I know how my parents would have reacted!!! And so help me, if my kids do anything that crazy when they are in college…I’ll have to go buy some more hair color! :D</p>
<p>Yeah, D2 just told me a few min. ago (is on a train trip in fact back to NYC at the moment), that she plans during her few days off before school begins, to fly to GA as her BF (who is in NYC like she is) invited her to his parents but she’ll be traveling alone on different days. And so it goes.</p>
<p>One thing, Franglish, is that your kids grew up in NYC but mine grew up in rural VT where they never went anywhere alone as there is no public transportation, etc. So, when my younger D, left for college in Manhattan at age 16, which is the most opposite extreme from where she grew up and involves her alone on the street very late most nights (rehearsals and such) and taking subways and so forth, believe me, I had to adjust and I still worry a lot. I know you are used to THAT but I surely was not (am more now but still worry).</p>
<p>I forgot to mention how proud I am of myself that I let D1 drive 6000 miles to Alaska at 18, which was only a few months after D2 was in a very serious car crash with severe injuries including intensive care, internal bleeding, and surgery and a major recovery. If you knew how much I worry and I still let her do it. D1 happens to be highly responsible and VERY reliable about calling exactly when she says she will, no matter how remote, what country she is in, or what doesn’t go as planned. That helps.</p>
<p>Yes, my D grew up in NYC. When she was in 8th grade we made a point of teaching her how the subways work. It was a year long project, but I never wanted her to feel lost. To this day many of her friends can’t find their way to or from where they want to be. We used to set out on a half day jaunt and would assign a place to get to. Occasionally we would deliberately “get lost” and have her find her way out of it. She is quite good at it, and I think it probably will help her navigate through the world. </p>
<p>Still, Soozie, you are the winner in all counts! You should be very proud of your girls, and they should be proud of you.</p>
<p>Counting-- you read my mind about the hair color! I’ve given up. Gray’s the way, for me.</p>
<p>“His dad informed him this was the sort of thing he should tell his mother AFTER he did it, not before.”</p>
<p>Reminds me of my cousin who gave his mother, aka my aunt, the book Into Thin Air a week before he, at the tender age of 50, climbed Mount Mckinley.</p>
<p>franglish, my older D (the one who went to your D’s college) is working in NYC for the first time ever this summer. She never knew her way around NYC or anything. She definitely has learned a lot in a short time and uses the subway every day in Manhattan and is living in Brooklyn. Last summer, she arrived in Paris to work and lived by herself and took that subway every day. I figure if she can navigate in a foreign country, she can manage in NYC. My other D knows her way very well but she has been there for three years. I do worry about them late at night, all alone on the street. I try not to think about it. I realize people who live in NYC are used to it but I am not and it does make me nervous when I think about it.</p>
<p>I’m going to try not to take it personally that you’re all infringing on my turf but seriously I am world class in this department :)</p>
<p>I’m a worrywart! DD has been to Brazil, China, Nicaragua, Mexico, Armenia, Peru, etc. in the last few years (not funded by me! She found ways to travel for free.) She is leaving for 9 months in Turkey in a few weeks and I will continue worrying! :eek: (I would be worrying just as much if she was living and working in any American cities.)</p>
<p>worrywart and anxiousmom have the names to go with this “malady.” :D</p>
<p>I sometimes think it’s a toss-up - the theoretical worry when they’re off on their own (like biking 800 miles west on highway #2 across Montana in the next 10 days) or the in-your-face worry of an overdue child on a Saturday night (say mid-winter with no cell phone). Personally theoretical worry is in my head and the other is in my gut.</p>
<p>All the same: “I listen for returning feet and voices at the door”…</p>
<p>Just to assure you of the worry wart that I truly am…he he…
D2 was on a train from upstate NY to NYC tonight and was to call as she got into NYC. I know the train was due to arrive a half hour ago and I could not help myself as no call had come and so I called her. She just walked out of Penn Station and is going to hail a cab. So, she laughed and said…“I’m at Madison Square Garden and will be back”…because at the end of the month, she is to perform there! And so we shared a laugh because for years in her childhood, I went on many trips to NYC with her to attend auditions (Broadway and the like) and we’d take a train into Penn Station and get above ground and the contrast from our rural tiny town in the mountains to the city was huge and we’d look up at the big sign for Madison Square Garden all lit up and now, she is not only a city girl, but who would have thunk she would perform at MSG back at that time. Phew, I know where she’s at…for now, LOL.</p>
<p>I worry and worry and life is no fun. I worry about the physical safety aspects for d and making his way in the world for the son (lds). I feel slightly guilty when things are not smooth for them, wondering if I had failed them. </p>
<p>I worry so much I think we are not going away for two months as planned to Australia next January as I don’t want my d to live in the house in the suburbs all by herself.</p>
<p>We might worry about them, but sometimes they are more intuitive than we might give them credit for. My D, currently on a 17 1/2 Greyhound ride from NYC to Chicago, texted me overnight, three or four times to assure me that she was fine. She is texting me excerpts from “Where the Wild Things Are.” That book was so important to her when she was small. She knew it would knock my socks off. It did…</p>
<p>That’s pretty funny about the quotes from Where the Wild Things Are. It really does help when your kid is traveling and they keep in touch so you can worry less (hopefully). Unfortunately, text messaging doesn’t work where I live and so that is not an option for communicating with my kids who are away. D2 did call this morning though after her follow up appointment in NYC for her wisdom teeth extraction which I was with her for a week ago in NY. So, if you have kids who do keep in touch, it helps some.</p>
<p>And-- these two really aren’t very Wild!</p>