30 Thoughts I Had When I Sent My Kid Off to Europe [LIST]

For two years my husband and I were paying for my son's trip to Europe and today was the day we finally sent him on his way.

I'm not sure who was more excited, him or us. My husband and I haven't been without Tanner for longer than three days in about four years. Even when we got married, we spent our honeymoon with him. By no means am I complaining, we had a great time.

When I had Tanner I always told myself that I would give him a better life than I had. Don't ask me how I managed to pull it off. He's 17, gets straight As, has a job, a roof over his head and hasn't gotten anyone pregnant YET, so I must be doing something right.

Because of all those things, Ben and I agreed that Tanner deserves to do all the things we never got to do; even if it meant that we were broke for a while and had to spend countless hours of our personal time raising money for him to go on this trip of a lifetime. He is more than deserving and we're so excited that we could do this for him.

We dropped him off at his high school this afternoon and in a few hours he'll be on a plane to London. While we were waiting for everyone to arrive, there were several things that were going through my mind; things I never got to say out loud. Sometimes it's for the best. But if you're a parent and you ever get the pleasure of sending your kids to anywhere you've always wanted to go, then you'll completely understand this list...and maybe get a good laugh.

Here's what goes through a parent's mind when they send their kid to Europe (well at least my mind):

1. I will not cry. I will not cry. I will not cry.

2. Why am I crying?

3. People probably think it's pretty weird that we brought the dog with to say "goodbye".

4. Looking around, and I don't see any girls that are really Tanner's type. Whew. Thank god.

5. Well, then again, there are a lot of teen girls in Europe.

6. Oh, god, please let him keep his pants on while he's in Europe. I want to think that Tanner's respectful but he's a 17 year old boy after all.

7. It's probably a good thing I just met what could be Tanner's summer fling before we got here; she was nice. Even the dog liked her. Maybe that's enough for him to behave.

8. Crap, remember when he kissed that girl on his Caribbean cruise? He had a girlfriend then.

9. Maybe European girls will think he's ugly.

10. I sure hope his plane doesn't crash.

11. Lord, please let him grow and mature from this experience.

12. This trip better be worth the 2 years of $200 a month payments.

13. Now that I think about it, the fundraisers were pretty fun and totally worth it.

14. Maybe he'll be super thankful for this experience and send us to Europe someday.

15. What if the people at customs don't believe that the picture on the passport is him? He looks like he's 10.

16. Should I reactive the voice service on his phone? Maybe the roaming charges will be worth the piece of mind.

17. What time is it in London?

18. How will I know when he gets there?

19. Ok, if they're six hours ahead, then that means he'll get there by the time I'm waking up to go to work. Must check Facebook immediately to see if the trip group page has been updated.

20. Should I download Snapchat? I don't know how to use it but he said if I really wanted to see all the things he was up to, that was the best way; even if it's stuff I don't want to see.

21. What if there's a terrorist attack?

22. The pilot of every single airplane that he travels on better be mentally stable. If I was him, I'd ask just to be safe. He's kind of a smart a-- so maybe he would.

23. What's the likelihood that he won't want to come back?

24. Did he bring enough money? I think he took $500.

25. How does that kid have more money than me?

26. What should Ben and I do while he's gone?

27. Crap, how is he getting home from the airport?

28. No way in hell am I picking him up from the airport.

29. Hopefully they give that kid an aisle seat. Eight hours on a plane is a really long time and he has very little patience.

30. I hope he makes some really good, long lasting friendships.

These are of course in no particular order but you get it. It's an extremely exciting time for all of us and I can't wait to see how and if this trip will impact his life.

From across the country at just one year old to across the pond 16 years later, we wish Tanner all the best in this new adventure.