Growing up

Matthew had his Cup final on Saturday and he rose early to knock on my bedroom door and remind me that we had to leave in 3 hours time. Half asleep and glancing up at him as he stood before me in all his kit I thought to myself that really is love of the game.

3 hours and fifteen minutes later I stood alongside the pitch with the other parents (all men but very accepting of me and my continuos team talks ) trying to contain myself as the game kicked off. Matthew has already asked me countless times throughout the season not to yell from the sidelines but I just can't contain myself and each week end up nearly loosing my voice as a result.

I have tried to change the tone of my voice to make it sound a bit deeper and more masculine but there's only so much I can do. I like to think that i'm supportive but Matthew says it's embarrassing. I even offered to manage the team at one point and no matter how many times I tried to persuade him that I could come up with great tactics he literally begged me not to volunteer. I asked him why and he replied with a simple " mum, you wear heels on a football pitch, you don't know the rules of the game and every time you look down at your iphone you miss a goal". My response, "And your point is Mathhew?".

Change

Everything seems to be changing and it always seems so unexpected yet in some respects things were very similar this time last year. We had birthday celebrations, Sienna has grown atleast another foot and even the cat is roaming free and very unsuccessfully trying to catch birds!.

Matthew turned 10 last week and even though I want all of my children to grow up and live full and happy lives it feels like it is all on the horizon and I don't think any amount of time will prepare me for the whole leaving home scenario. I know I may be jumping the gun slightly but I can't help it. On Matthew's birthday I even asked him if we could make a promise that we would always spend his birthday together and he happily agreed. I felt like pulling out a piece of paper and a pen and drawing up a legally binding contract which I could hold him to forever! The worst of it is, I actually had it all figured out in my mind.

My mother still tells me that "children never stop needing their parents", and whilst I do agree, I couldn't imagine waking up one day and the house not being full of noise and chaos. When you think about things sometimes it makes you put things in perspective and make the most of everything your children bring you, in a blink of an eye another ten years will fly by and they too will be flying the nest just like we did.