My mom knew that I hoped to move out as soon as I turned 18. At first, I think she was hurt by it. But then she came to understand. She thought I couldn’t wait to be away from her and dad. But that wasn’t it at all. I was just focused on how fun it would be to be independent. Once she realized that, she looked forward to helping me find apartments for rent in Rio Rancho afterward. I would never want to be away from my parents because they mean too much to me.
I feel lucky that I have parents who have turned into friends as I’ve grown older. Oh, they’re still my parents. If I screw something up, both of them are there to point out the issue and help me to get on the right path again. Yet, at the same time, they aren’t over-parenting me as an adult. We enjoy hanging out together, and they do not make every little petty thing into a lecture. We laugh a lot together and joke around. It’s nice. I know that not everyone has that same luck with their parents. I told my mom that I need her and my dad in my life, and moving out was not an attempt to ditch them.
Mom was busy on some of the days that I went looking for apartments. It surprised me that dad turned out to be very interested in going with me on those days. It tickled me to see him walking around and inspecting each place closely. He would knock on closet doors, open things up to look inside and give his thoughts on quality and look. It actually helped me a lot because he was looking at things I didn’t know to look at. He was the one who was with me when I made the choice of which place to pick. Dad approved.