Stumbling in Flats

The Teenager is home for over three months now Uni has finished for the Summer break.

He sent me an extensive shopping list in advance – ‘lots of protein, fruit, veg, rice, protein bars, frozen fruit, milk, eggs, bit more protein’.

Just to be on the safe side, I added extra loo roll (he’s the Houdini of Andrex), more toothbrushes (he chews them), gallons of shower gel (he swims in the stuff) and some more protein.

If I’d thought about it, I should have sent a list back, something like this:

• Take your key when you go out.
• Change the loo roll when it’s empty (handy hint, there’s more next to the loo).
• Take your key when you go out.
• Turn the oven off after cooking your usual six salmon steaks.
• Take your key when you go out.

And that’s pretty much it. The key issue is a biggie; he’s lost more keys than I can count, forgets to take it or just seems surprised to find it in his pocket after hammering on the door at 1am.

On one memorable occasion, I woke up to find his bed empty and my front garden littered with plastic bottles and newspapers. He’d forgotten his key and in his endearing wisdom, decided to chuck the contents of our recycling bag at my bedroom window in the hope of waking me up.

I eventually tracked him down to a friend’s sofa and had a little chat about the aerodynamics and weight of newspapers.

And so it was I took my friend for the journey and we picked up The Teenager plus all his worldly possessions and trekked back home. The cat rolled her eyes and scarpered, used to a more sedate pace of life in his absence.

It’s strange welcoming back an adult, after dropping off a boy at Uni last Autumn. We’re both adults now, yet somehow there’s the maternal temptation to revert to type.

I remind him to take his coat when it’s chilly. He reminds me he’s an adult. I press an apple into his hand before he goes out. He places it back in the fruit bowl. He’s not the only one rolling his eyes. And so it goes back and forth.

I think though, that we’re getting there. I’m getting used to him singing in the shower again; some days Beatles hits, others Oasis. The thumping as he gets dressed (no idea). The evidence of overnight fridge-foraging when I come downstairs in the morning (follow the crumbs to the empty packets).

Some things never change though. One evening last week, I resisted the temptation to ask if he had everything before he went out – key, wallet, fully-charged phone (hah!). I waved him off, feeling quite pleased with myself, and settled down to some serious Danish drama on telly.

A minute later, a knock on the door. The Teenager, looking sheepish.

‘Forgot my key’.