The blue Honda Civic pulls down the gravel driveway. Our youngest son enthusiastically moves away to college for his last year. A bit of gravel dust floats in the air above the road as I stand waving till long after he's out of sight and tears push at the insides of my eyes. Now what?
This might have been his last summer at home. Of course we want him to graduate, get a job, find love, success, happiness, joy, community, and financial freedom. We are, after-all, supposed to raise our children to leave us. Right? That's the plan, the design, the goal.
I sit on the couch with the sleeping dog at my feet inside the quiet house. For a few minutes I feel sort of sick inside. Its too quiet. There really is only the sound of the mantel clock ticking and the air conditioning fan.
And then, bam, the front door opens and he's back! In all the packing, he has forgotten his wallet. So he's in the house, running up the stairs to his room to find the wallet and zipping back down stairs with a smile. He accepts my extra hug and shoots out the front door into his car. He's gone, but he'll be back for many more hugs on many more summer days. He just won't necessarily "live" here. Or maybe he will.
There are job market issues for many college grads. There are boomerang kids. We may or may not have those issues. But today we've said goodbye and experienced the last "back to school" event for our family. So we hugged and waved and had another moment when the tears wouldn't stay away as the dust again floated in the air above the driveway.
He's gone again, back to school.
1 comment:
I think it goes on until our end - think how many times your mother had to say goodbye to you!
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