Does anyone else here track their kids’ flights when they’re travelling, or am I the only crazy one who does that? My H just shakes his head at me.
I do when I know what flight they’re on. I don’t always know which airline they’re flying.
@garland, I’m so sorry.
I track Mr. B’s flights… So what is the big deal?
I track only if I’m picking up at the airport. It’s usually the only time I even know flight info.
When I visit my dad (about 11hr drive), he always wants to check my oil and tires before I leave to come back. He’s 82. He has been doing this forever. I recently got a newer vehicle, and my dad couldn’t easily see how to check the oil/had trouble getting the stick out or something. I had to tell him to forget about it–the vehicle tells you when the oil needs to be changed or if it is low. End of an era. After visiting him, I still call to let him know I arrived home safely–even if it is late. And I expect my kids to do this when they are traveling long distance. I don’t track flights, but I expect a text at the end of each leg, or notice of a delay, missed connection, etc.
Last week dad was telling me on the phone about an interesting magazine article he’d read. He tore it out and sent it to me in the mail (not thinking that he could’ve taken a photo and texted/emailed it to me). Sweet to see an envelope with Dad’s handwriting in the mail yesterday.
Sometimes, about my oldest kids, I think, “When I was your age, I was already married/had a baby.”
My oldest son lives thousands of miles away, and still calls/texts me from the grocery store to ask about ingredients for recipes, etc. He had to give a speech for his work yesterday. The night before he emailed me the speech for one final edit/my opinion. The next day I see a 2am reply (I’m thinking he is going to disagree with my edits. . .) It simply said, “Thanks for that.”
I have 4 “adult” children, and 3 younger ones. The older ones seem to dump stress on me–nothing major, but some have housing/roommate issues, relationship issues, job issues. Never stops. More stressful than middle school, imo.
DH checks flights all the time, for all of us.
Garland, wishing your daughter good health and best wishes going forward.
i thought I could worry less about S1, but then he and his wife split up. He seems to be managing reasonably well, but I still have tough days about it. Not that he knows…but it’s easier to hide when he is on the other coast.
^^ True, @CountingDown . D is 800 miles away and has no earthly idea how much I worry, which is a good thing.
@CountingDown --very sorry about your S. We always want everything to go smoothly for them. Even though he’s managing well, of course you’ll feel bad.
Where’s the dang straight trajectories? Why all these speed bumps???
@garland and @CountingDown, sorry to hear about your D and S.
Like @dstark, I’m also a dad. I generally trust that my kids will be sensible and make good decisions and consult ShawWife or me when they think we can help… However, both still have challenges that I worry about. ShawSon had sleep apnea in HS and had a very serious set of surgeries that work for 6-7 years, but he is experiencing sleep apnea again. He’s been so tired that he hasn’t been pushing the health services/insurance company to move fast, so ShawWife and I stepped in and did that. We try to keep in touch with both kids, but in most cases, there would not be a lot we could do if something really were to go wrong.
We have dear friends who have two terrific sons, probably 10 years older than ours. Each married nice young women and the eldest had two children. The younger one died while in her sleep. Our friend told me that this was so tough because he couldn’t do anything for his distraught son and DIL. Over a year later, the grandparents are still sad – and there is a new grandkid from the same couple, which is changing things.
I knew that my daughter was flying today, but didn’t know the flight number or schedule. Usually she gives me all the specifics, plus we have her DNA in our upright freezer (she thought we should have it before a school trip to Guatemala).
I sent a text message asking her to let me know that she’d arrived back at her home airport. Turns out I texted at the same moment she texted me that she’d arrived.
I don’t worry about that one much as she has a charmed life. Her sister, I worry about all the time.
What I remember about being their age is how totally clueless I was about so many important things. 
And I admit, I track most of their flights. I don’t always know when D1 is traveling, but if I have the specifics, yes – I track.
S1 has schizophrenia, S2 will be at the American University of Beirut starting this fall, and D has anxiety and will be a college freshman next year, 500 miles away. Life has not turned out the way I expected, but I know H and I are good parents and have done what we could for our kids. All three of them are happy and stable right now, so I am happy, too!
“plus we have her DNA in our upright freezer (she thought we should have it before a school trip to Guatemala)”
@KKmama Excuse my ignorance. I don’t watch many of those tv CSI type shows, but what is the DNA for? All I can think of is cloning and body identification. :-/
On flight tracking: I track the flights when they are coming to visit me or returning home after a visit…or on the occasions when we have been flying separately to a shared destination - but other than that I usually don’t know many details of when my kids are flying, or even necessarily that they are or had been traveling.
Oh, there’s a thought. When I was my son’s age, I was pregnant – with him.
I got married when I was just shy of age 28, had my son at age 29. My son self-supporting age 20, and was married and a father by the time of his 27th birthday. So sometimes it works the other way, with the offspring being the ones who take on significant life responsibilities at an earlier age. It think both my kids-- now age 28 and 33 – currently have a lot more on their shoulders than I ever did…so while I still have the typical array of mommy worries, it’s abundantly clear in my dealings with them that they are grownups. I think that in general, they’ve had a tougher life than I did, just because times have changed.
My response at #1 was "Doh. Of course. Been there; done that; doing that. Heck. I’m 63, my older brother is 67, and I’ll bet you dollars to donuts that our 95-year-old mother still does it too. "
I call her every day at 4 pm just to check in and visit her every Saturday morning. Forgot today: was watching a rugby game. She called to check. Need I say more? It never ends.
My adult kids are not going in any “normal” path. All are 26 and older, none married or parents. None engaged. None have gone to graduate school unlike their parents. Only one has is doing very well in profession. But it is a very risky profession.
So yes I worry. Very much. It does not do them a bit of good and sure does not help me. So I really need to just STOP!
Hugs to all of us who still lie awake and worry about them.