Just 4 days to go till uni...

Things are going so normally here in the Matty household, it's difficult to get used to. A normal mum nagging a normal teenage son about normal things: "Promise me you won't walk home on your own late at night", "Don't forget to put your wallet in a safe place so it doesn't get stolen", "Remember to buy toilet roll and milk", "Don't put the whites in with the darks in the launderette", "Don't drink too much"... blah, blah, blah...


Nag, nag, nag... I imagine I'm just like any other mum in the run up to university. All those little things that you've always done for your child and probably shouldn't - like ironing, sewing on buttons and washing clothes... and always being there to lend him a spare tenner when he runs out of cash...

But - yes of course - there are the other issues which are unique to us as a family with a child that's recently recovered from anorexia...

Walking through a series of typical chaotic freshers' week days, food-wise... taking a few frozen meals to see him through those first few evenings... making sure his luggage is packed with pots, pans and store cupboard staples like tins of tomatoes, rice, pasta, biscuits, soup, tuna, cereal, herbs, spices, lentils and other stuff he can create a quick meal from in minutes. Plus we'll be shopping for fresh stuff like milk, bread, etc. But I guess this, too, is something that "normal" families do on the way to university.

I hope he ends up with nice flatmates in a friendly apartment block. Not too many flatmates - not one of those apartments with 12 bedrooms where everyone fights over the cooker, fridge and freezer. A smaller apartment would be better. I hope none of his flatmates have curious eating habits, because that kind of thing still sets of the ED thoughts. People who eat rubbish, are on constant diets, talk about diets constantly or are fussy - or who just don't eat.

And I hope they don't 'borrow' key items of his food, leaving him short - because the nearest supermarket (and only a small Spa supermarket at that) is a 20 minute round trip away. I imagine the lure of Ben's latest batch of chocolate brownies sitting in the fridge when you've just come back from clubbing at 3am might prove too a little too tempting for most...

I hope everyone he meets is friendly - and he's friendly to them. The last thing I want is for him to end up isolating himself in his room. We've been through all that at school; I hope and pray it will be onwards and upwards from here...

On bar or disco nights I hope he drinks a little to steady his nerves. Not loads, but just a little. And not to be into the habit of doing this... Because he does have a habit of sitting there without a drink while everyone else tucks in - and he gets tense and anxious while they begin to mellow... So a little bit of 'Dutch Courage' mightn't go amiss...

He's organised a mentor - a boy from the year above who is there to look out for him during those first few weeks and months. This boy has a best friend with anorexia, so he 'gets' the illness more than most, I guess.

There are also accommodation mentors - students from the year above whose job it is to help new students settle into their apartments.

And with a diary jam packed full of activities during that first freshers' week - from beach parties, BBQs and discos to scuba diving, quasar, Buddhist meditation, jazz, radio DJ-ing, ghost walks, pub crawls and treasure hunts - he's bound to meet people that float his boat. Plus, two of his school friends are in the same apartment complex as him. And the little girl he once insisted he was going to marry... back in nursery, aged just three... is going to be at the other university in the city, a stone's throw away. He knows, because he met her in the record shop yesterday. Good God, she's changed in the past 15 years!