I am a proud mother of a now 18 year old son, he has been all boy in his growing but I've never really had to complain much. He is sensitive, loving, and albeit a bit air-headed at times. He was born in Pennslyvania and raised in West Virginia, on a farm with goats, chickens and dogs.

When I announced to him that we were moving to Australia he went into an uproar, I was taking him from his home. Come to find out he thought it was a third world country with no toilets, roos running the streets and crocs in every watering hole. Some indepth studies with him about where we were going and he was assured that Crocodile Dundee wouldn't be his neighbor. He said he will give me a year then he was going home.

Being on the move through most of my life, I never totally took in how this move would impact this totally all American Redneck boy. We had traveled around the USA since he was 2 months old, but this was a whole new cup of tea. He went from being 25 miles in the country to a place with public transporation and semi-rural neighborhood. Getting him out of the house in the beginning was a chore, on top of getting him use to the fact his mother was a women and did have an interest in men (I had been single and never dated from the time he was one year old).

We took him to all the tourist spots, back roads, bushwalks and showed him what Australia really is, he has now been to more states in this country than I have and a pro at taking the trains. West Virginia didn't have a diverse amount of cultures, country or city folk was the only difference. The culture shocks to him have be astounding. He worked in a garage with men from Lebanon, Peru, China, Japan and of course Aussie. He is learning from foreign perspectives what they think of most Americans and what their cultures are like. I have been witnessing a boy becoming a man in his understanding of the world and what it holds.

He never wants to leave Australia now, loves the freedom of being on the go even without a drivers license. He is making plans of visiting Japan, a culture he has grown an interest in. He swears he will never loose his country accent (mainly cause the girls like it) and being American, but likes finding out how big the world is outside the "Yank box". He has gone from a shy boy to an outgoing and talkative man, although still unsure about why Mom no longer waits on him hand and foot.

I encourage parents to get there children out there and see what is available to them, what else lies on the other side. I thought keeping him in one place to grow up might be better than the nomadic life I led as a child would be great for making lasting relationships etc., but he has made more here than he ever did in West Virginia. His eyes are open to more than he thought he had to settle for, he is making choices instead of remaining with what all the other boys are doing, and he is following dreams he never thought possible.

One final note on the teenage part... in the states my son thought it was cool to go out with the 4-wheeler to get muddy and drinking with all the boys. He thought when he turned 18, legal in Australia, that he would get a one up on his friends in states that have to wait until 21. Yesterday he went for his first pub crawl with kids around his age from work, he learned that drinking isn't that cool after all. Thank God for that too.