When I was 17 I went to Germany be myself for 6 weeks. I lived with a great aunt I had only met once before. She really did not keep tabs on me at all and I had a great time. The drinking age in Germany is 16 so for me it was a bit of fun. I traveled to France and Switzerland and just had a blast meeting new people, seeing new things and exploring.
Thinking back it must have been hard on my mom to let me go for I was a bit of a stinker, still am a wild child but the experience was so good for me.
I have never stopped my three from spreading their wings. That is our job as parents to let our children explore and live life to the fullest. Yes we fear for them, but I fear the silence of cancer or heart disease even more.
I have let my children fly and for the most part they have done extremely well there have been a couple of nose dives but that is life.
It is the things in life we DON'T do that we regret mostly, not the things we did. In my case that is so very very true. I have made mistakes a plenty but the biggest regrets are the things I did not do.