Yesterday I got a faint glimpse into what my world might look like when the children leave home. Princess Child is at a school camp. Hippie Child has exams which means early/late start/finish times. It was decided she would take the car to school and bring it home by lunchtime for me.

Basically that meant I didn’t have any responsibility for getting her off to school. So I did what any self-respecting mother who had been mothering for 17 years would do, I slept in. God it was wonderful. Also amazing that Hippie Child managed to get herself ready and out of the house on time without anyone screaming at her!

However, a few people didn’t get the memo that I was having a morning without parental responsibilities. I was rudely waken by two telemarketers on the phone and then the Jehovah Witness knocked on the door, to the bloke’s credit he didn’t flinch at the sight of pj’s and hair sticking up in something resembling a severe electrical shock.

By the time the child returned with the car I had tidied myself up enough to leave the house. I lunched with a group of 25-35 year-olds.I realised I don’t have many friends in that age bracket. My god I’m a different generation. They have a selection criteria for potential partners that is pretty extensive, they debated the pros and cons of online dating (with examples of experiences) and they are still in the midst of the career vs biological clock thing. I’m getting the sense that simply heading out to a bar for the night and picking up the cutest guy you can find isn’t what you do any more?

I then toddled into the ABC to take part in a panel on “What Feminism Means To Me”. I prepared by reading some of my old posts on the topic – turns out I’m an OK writer – I rarely read my stuff back – publish and be gone tends to be my motto – but I said some interesting things.

• Opting Out A Realistic Option?
• Confessions of a Failed Retro Housewife?
• Girl Power.
• Ham, Spiders and International Women’s Day.
• Women and Choices.
• What the bloody hell is a feminist?

On returning home I discovered our television wasn’t working. Knowing that if Princess Child returned home to a house without television it would send her over the edge I decided I needed to fix it. I thought perhaps the giant wind gales we’ve been having might have dislodged the aerial. I dragged out the ladder to climb on the roof, I got to the second from the top rung before I remembered I was afraid of heights and canned the idea.

Then I remembered something about change overs and re-tuning your TV. I pressed some auto setup button and magically our channels worked again. Thank god I hadn’t made it onto the roof.

The Hippie Child and I finished the day with Thai at her favourite restaurant  a call from Princess arrived mid meal I proudly told her about fixing the TV. She told me they had playing ads about that for months, and what was I thinking trying to GET ON THE ROOF! We do miss her technical know-how when she’s not around.

After a probably allergy inspired coughing fit while eating, which drew a few stares, we headed home for the night by the light of the full moon.