After two very silent, contemplative years, I am re-instating my blog, The Allergy Trip, now reincarnated as Adventures with Allergies, a title I think better suits the emotional journey we take as parents of kids who have severe food allergies and who are growing into independent, courageous young adults with profound opinions about the world around them.

Tonight is a momentous occasion as it marks a true milestone for my peanut/tree nut/seed-allergic daughter and me. In less than 24 hours, she will be 36,000 feet in the air with her 5th grade class, headed on a two-week-long adventure to live and immerse herself with a family in Taipei, Taiwan.

Having lived in Asia, I know I am sending my daughter into the culinary equivalent of a lion’s den. Who in their right mind would ship off a 10-year-old who is allergic to sesame and peanut (and almonds, cashews, walnuts, chestnuts…) to a country where such ingredients are staples of the local diet? It is an insane choice that defies logic. This I know for sure.

Yet, despite her allergies I am sending her half-way around the world because I believe she is ready not only to “own” her allergies and advocate for herself, but also because I believe this is an opportunity for her to truly see the world from another perspective and learn how to advocate for herself. Am I scared? You bet. Nervous? Yes, for the last six months, this school trip is all I have thought about. Has my mind spiraled out of control thinking through every possible (and impossible) situation that my daughter could encounter that would land her in the ER? Absolutely. Why else would I be packing 10 Epi-Pens to accompany her across the Pacific?

In all honesty, she is mentally, physically and emotionally ready to speak up for herself, be it in English or Chinese (as 21st-century kids will do, of course…). Unlike my 10-year-old self back in 1984, my daughter is ready to go and has been for some time–longer that I have been ready to let go and watch her take flight physically and metaphorically. I can only hope that all of those one-minute conversations we’ve had over the years have sunk in somewhere subliminally since she was first diagnosed 7 years ago.

For every parent of a food-allergic child out there reading this, I’m sure you can appreciate that demoralizing moment when you feel like you are the “crazy parent” in the room whose mind spirals over all the possible emergency situations that could occur on someone else’s watch or even under your own nose. If it makes you feel better, please know that every imaginable scenario has rattled around my over-active brain since early discussions around this class trip to Taiwan began to take shape last September. But my head can rationalize the fact that the likelihood of those scenarios is slim. And some days, that is the deciding factor that enables me to let my daughter board the plane.

There is no better starting point than the edge of reason, so please join me as I live vicariously through my courageous daughter’s first trip to Asia. Let the adventure (with allergies) begin…