A Melancholy Sort of Day

At 7:30 this morning I sat at our front room window waiting with my thirteen-year-old for his carpool ride. My view of the street is now somewhat restricted by a tree that we planted ten years ago. Back then it was little more than a six foot stick. The tree now stands 30 feet tall. Was it really ten years ago that my three little boys perched on a couch delighted with their front row seat as they watched the earth movers rearrange the mounds of dirt and rock in our yet-t0-be-finished front yard? The child at my side would have been three-years-old. My oldest, eight. It was a simple flashback. I have no photographs to preserve the moment. Only the memories captured in a mother's heart. OK, maybe that sounds a bit sappy. But the last couple of days, I've been wandering from room to room trying to figure out how time had slipped away from me.

Today we dropped off our eighteen-year-old at college. We always thought he'd end up out of state, but for whatever reason, he was drawn to a local college that is only 45 minutes from our house.

And the mother rejoiced!

An almost empty closet at home...just enough clothes for a quick change on those weekends he stops by.

Somethings will never change.. Here's his 'made' bed. The pillows accompanied him to college as he said they were perfectly 'broken in'.

Not a very organized move, but given the fact that he packed in about 15 minutes so his free time could be spent with friends, I think he did ok.

T's home for the next eight months. Notice how nice everything looks. I give it about 3 days...

Littlest brother had a hard time with the thought of his big brother (and protector) leaving home. Gave his brother a picture of himself to help him remember family.

Out of ALL the halls they could have assigned to our son, they chose to have him live in the hall named after our ancestor. Quite comforting, really.