Getting ready today - all three kids and the two fiances' will be here this weekend! We haven't seen Lizzy since we left her there in August, so we're extra excited about that AND we get to see both rings! Carrie's mom and Casey's folks will be here Saturday night for dinner. We're thinking we can squeeze it in between the Georgia and Tennessee games.
It's fun getting ready for the kids to come home. I actually went down all the aisles at the grocery store yesterday. I rarely do that anymore. Mike had to straighten up his office/guest room and I guess I need to check the bathroom down stairs.
Favorite foods are in the plans for today, chicken casserole for Lizzy tonight, unbaked cookies, pumpkin bread all are on my to-do list today. Tomorrow there are ribs and a turkey breast for the smoker and, of course, champagne.
I've got the fall decorations up, pumpkin spice candles, a cinnamon broom and Mike has hung his decrepit skeleton in front of the garage. I'm hoping he can't find that lighted tombstone the kids drug home from someone elses garbage one year. (It's plastic with lights inside and a string of orange bubble lights draped over it's top.) Can anyone say - tacky? But if it makes Mike happy, and it does, then so be it.
Home sweet home - a full house tonight when we go to sleep.
Having them leave is hard, but having them come home is wonderful compensation.
Showing posts with label college. Show all posts
Showing posts with label college. Show all posts
Friday, October 2, 2009
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Longing to Belong
When my three kids were pre-16, a mom with older kids told me. "When they start driving every siren you hear makes you stop and think about where they are." She was right.
This morning I heard a siren and stopped to think if any of mine were on the road. Then I realized, that siren couldn't concern them, none of them are within 80 miles of here.
This time of transition is just that - TIME. Lizzy and I have chatted on the phone this week and she knows about the time thing. Nothing feels familiar to her and she knows time is the only way to change that. I reminded her it's practice for all the times she'll not belong in the future. She understands that and is being very wise and thoughtful.
I told her it doesn't feel settled here either - yet.
To go to bed and not leave lights on. Finding the kitchen looking just like I left it. Considering only Mike and my schedules for dinner. To be planning our vacation with no thoughts of teen friendly activities. It's all a little odd and unsettling. But not really sad, because it still feels temporary.
It's about not belonging.
Lizzy doesn't belong in Marietta or at her friends' college where she visited, and she doesn't belong on her campus - yet.
We don't belong in this empty nest - yet.
It takes time and effort to belong.
I wonder if that is one of the great things about heaven. We'll belong there immediately - we'll be at home and know it. Maybe that's why we want so much to belong here on earth? Maybe we have an inner desire for heaven. Hmmm, I like that.
This morning I heard a siren and stopped to think if any of mine were on the road. Then I realized, that siren couldn't concern them, none of them are within 80 miles of here.
This time of transition is just that - TIME. Lizzy and I have chatted on the phone this week and she knows about the time thing. Nothing feels familiar to her and she knows time is the only way to change that. I reminded her it's practice for all the times she'll not belong in the future. She understands that and is being very wise and thoughtful.
I told her it doesn't feel settled here either - yet.
To go to bed and not leave lights on. Finding the kitchen looking just like I left it. Considering only Mike and my schedules for dinner. To be planning our vacation with no thoughts of teen friendly activities. It's all a little odd and unsettling. But not really sad, because it still feels temporary.
It's about not belonging.
Lizzy doesn't belong in Marietta or at her friends' college where she visited, and she doesn't belong on her campus - yet.
We don't belong in this empty nest - yet.
It takes time and effort to belong.
I wonder if that is one of the great things about heaven. We'll belong there immediately - we'll be at home and know it. Maybe that's why we want so much to belong here on earth? Maybe we have an inner desire for heaven. Hmmm, I like that.
Monday, August 10, 2009
Anarchy banished - again!
Sitting on the deck drinking coffee this morning, I watched the school buses making their rounds.
Order is being imposed on the realm.
Every summer since my kids started school followed the same pattern. Around the beginning of May, we'd all get antsy. Homework, projects, packing lunches, signing notes - their end was in sight. We'd shove off the shackles of the school year and revel in the freedom and warm days. June and July would fly by on the wings of liberty.
Then that last week of July, I'd start to itch. Dishes in the kitchen sink all day, late nights, supper on the fly, shaggy hair, peeling sunburns, and sleep-deprived kids - all pushed freedom over the edge of the cliff called, "chaos."
Even this year, with the youngest headed off to a dorm, the itching started a week ago. Robert left this morning, after his first extended time home in five years. My cabinents are now empty of his organic food and power drink stuff. I can clean the stubble off the downstairs sink and his running shoes are no longer posted by my desk.
Lizzy is waking up in her dorm room and my hairbrush can come out of hiding. It, along with my mascara and tweezers, will stay where I leave them instead of finding themselves in Lizzy's purse at strange houses.
Okay - maybe I'll get lonely or sad at some point down the road, but right now I feel all-powerful. Because once again in my world, order has triumphed chaos!
Order is being imposed on the realm.
Every summer since my kids started school followed the same pattern. Around the beginning of May, we'd all get antsy. Homework, projects, packing lunches, signing notes - their end was in sight. We'd shove off the shackles of the school year and revel in the freedom and warm days. June and July would fly by on the wings of liberty.
Then that last week of July, I'd start to itch. Dishes in the kitchen sink all day, late nights, supper on the fly, shaggy hair, peeling sunburns, and sleep-deprived kids - all pushed freedom over the edge of the cliff called, "chaos."
Even this year, with the youngest headed off to a dorm, the itching started a week ago. Robert left this morning, after his first extended time home in five years. My cabinents are now empty of his organic food and power drink stuff. I can clean the stubble off the downstairs sink and his running shoes are no longer posted by my desk.
Lizzy is waking up in her dorm room and my hairbrush can come out of hiding. It, along with my mascara and tweezers, will stay where I leave them instead of finding themselves in Lizzy's purse at strange houses.
Okay - maybe I'll get lonely or sad at some point down the road, but right now I feel all-powerful. Because once again in my world, order has triumphed chaos!
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