Becoming An Adult

This is my youngest son Tyler, He just turned 18 and decided since he was now officially an Adult he was old enough to take on some more adult like things. He first wanted to open up an IRA when he was taking a Financial lit class. My brother is a financial planner so we called him up and he advised us to wait until he turned 18, that was like 6 months before his birthday, so he decided he would start saving up his money so when his birthday came he would have a nice amount to open his IRA up with. Well his birthday came and the day after he was already asking me when we can set up the appointment. So we meet with my brother and we open up his IRA, he had saved up $1100 already! I’m not sure where this kid came from, but I am pretty proud of him!

A few weeks later the family teen car that we had for all the boys to use while in high school started to act up and start needing more repairs than it was worth. Because Tyler is so responsible we decided it would be a good time for him to get himself a car and a payment, and start building himself some credit. We found a car he liked, in his price range and he was pretty excited about the whole thing. He loved this car, life was good… for about 3 weeks. Then one Sunday his car ownership got taken away from him abruptly! Tyler was driving home from church of all places when he got into his first accident. He was not only hit but the other driver took off! luckily for us a witness followed the guy and then came and told us where he ended up, which wasn’t too far because his truck was totaled! Come to find out the driver was arrested with a DUI and leaving the scene of an accident! We are so very blessed that Tyler and his friend who was also in the car were able to walk away from the accident, a little shaken up of course, but totally safe! His car wasn’t so lucky, the insurance company declared his car totaled, Tyler was pretty upset, he hadn’t even made his first car payment yet!! But I’ve been pretty impressed with the way he has handled the whole thing, its been almost three weeks since the accident and he still hasn’t gotten a replacement yet, he has been searching online everyday for a good car, finding a car that is in his budget, reliable, gets good gas mileage, and somewhat cool isn’t an easy task, but I know he will find one and life will be good again. I am pretty proud of this 18-year-old, he has only been 18 for a couple of months now, he has already made some pretty smart choices and had to deal with some pretty crappy life experiences, but I’m seeing the young man he is becoming by the way he has been dealing with all of this, I am truly a proud mama.