Friday, August 29, 2008

Dirty Laundry Can be a Milestone

(I have no idea who Jo-mama's is, but I adore their sign.)
So, today is the first time my kid, my precious, my sorely missed nearly nineteen year old son, came home after his first week being away from home after moving off to college. Do you know what I was excited about all day? Aside from seeing him, hugging him, checking him out to make sure he has been eating okay and asking him all the obvious questions about how dorm life is, and how his classes are going... I've been excited to do his laundry again. So crazy, I KNOW! He arrived home while hero and I were out to dinner with our other son and his girlfriend, and when we came back home later I was comforted to see that Trey had been home, changed his clothes, left a pair of shoes right in the middle of the kitchen floor, eaten a hot pocket, left his laptop on the kitchen counter along with his bag, and plate and crumbs from dinner, the remnants of his opened mail and deposited a huge hamper full of dirty clothes for me in the laundry room and left to attend a party. I can't tell you the huge wave of relief I felt and sense of normalcy that just came over me after walking in and seeing this.

Feels normal, feels like this is home again. Feels like all the pieces fit. So, I'm going to take my time doing his laundry this weekend and enjoy every last minute of it. In another month or so, he won't be able to bring his laundry home so easily, unless he would like to drive eleven or so hours. This is a milestone weekend, though. All of us who went away to college and came home with bags of dirty clothes looking for hugs and cash from parents after that first week or two the freshman year may be able to relate. Now I know what my parents were feeling like. And I'm thankful to be feeling so full of love and appreciation today. I'm also very thankful for something else. I'm thankful that he didn't bring home one of these:


Because that would have caused some tension within the family for a little while until we sorted things out. As in, What the Hell?


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Awwww..........I would be more than happy to send my laundry your way :)
And hopefully you won't have any naked strangers showing up any time soon! Great post :)

JackeeG4glamorous said...

God I wish I could fit into (and get out of on my own!) a laundry basket again!

I know what you mean, my grown son has his own place - and when his washing machine was broke he brought his laundry over and I felt a certain comfort in "taking care of this guy". It was as if I had extended that period of time.
Now, no one needs me anymore. Sigh.

(that's a good feeling too)