My daughter was 18 on February 1.
We pride ourselves on our birthday cards in the Padley family – we like to pass on deep messages of truth and love.
And so it was that her birthday card from her dad went something along these lines.
“At last. At last I can start charging you rent and asking you to contribute to the utility bills and the shopping. At last you are responsible for feeding yourself. At last you can pay your mobile phone bill, parking tickets, petrol, car insurance, car service and excess when you have a crash.
“At last I can trust you, not to just put your dishes in the dishwasher, but to clean the kitchen to an adult standard.
“But, dear Jemima, let’s not misunderstand each other. We don’t ever want you to feel pressured to leave home; on the contrary, we want you to stay, in fact we need you to stay.
“Who else is going to cook, clean, do the laundry, drive us around, puree our meals, walk us and clean our pants as we get older. It’s going to be great. We have so longed for someone to look after us rather than to be looked after by us. Welcome to adulthood, you’re going to love it.”
I had to work on her birthday and so it was, with her birthday as the backdrop, that a particular email, from a Marcus Today member, struck a chord.
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Credits: Marcus Padley