DS2 just passed a major one. ‘Passed’ being the operative word. He is now a fully licensed driver courtesy of Dubai, UAE Roads and Transport Authority. I recall, pre-babies and actual, live parental duties, thinking I would document each and every milestone of each one of the babies I would be blessed to have – there would be photos, camcorder footage, touching diary entries, saved mementos and clothes (stored and catalogued by age). It would be a Mummy handmade movie of each of their lives – to show at their 21st birthday celebrations; something that might make them cringe but something that would make my heart melt with joy and pride.

I recall scoffing (in my head) at those who dared to suggest that my dream of presenting my babies with a ‘This is your life’ type album when they were old enough to appreciate and understand it, would be lost, buried at the bottom of a pile of nappy filled bags, puke adorned onesies and, at some point, something too treacherous to retrieve on the other side of the lego land mine covered playroom.

And here I am. 18.5 years on. The age when young adults can start driving lessons in Dubai. DS2 passed over the Christmas break. Celebrations all round. No more school runs in the crazy zip-zaggedy maze of school rush hour traffic at sleep o’clock in the morning and nap o’clock at school pick up.

In one way, my life is getting easier. My parental responsibilities have been abrogated and ‘it’s now on them’ but, in another way, it is just a broader, colder stepping stone to an empty nest which, no matter how hard I try, I am still ill-prepared for.

They say cigarettes are the gateway ‘drug’ to all other vices. If that is the case, then driving licences are the gateway ‘drug’ to that amazing elixir known as ‘independence’ and freedom from your parents! That’s an incredibly difficult and gag-inducing pill to swallow….but….what an amazing prepatory stepping stone to your new life in another country, to learn, to experience, to contribute, to belong.

I salute you all. It’s an exciting, scary, unsure, character-building, never-want-to-let-this-go-and-will-always-be-remembered era.

And all the Mammies out there say the same – sure, you know you can always come back!