Last week we shipped off two of our sons to college. They've both got bright futures and were excited about going. One received a terrific scholarship and the other has a great employment record despite jobs being so difficult to find. Despite plenty of setbacks in their lives, they had navigated the hazards of youth and were moving on to the next step towards living their lives as men.
It was heartbreaking to see them move out.
You tell yourself that they're doing what they're supposed to, you tell yourself that it's a healthy thing, but that doesn't keep it from hurting. Every time I saw a little boy of any age this last weekend I remembered when mine was that age. Ow! We're in a period of mourning where you regret the loss of a phase of life. They'll be back for summers and vacations (maybe), but they've moved out for good for all intents and purposes.
We're all on very good terms, we text them both every day. One is close enough to come home for dinner from time to time and the other is close enough for us to drive up and see once in a while, but the bridge has been crossed and if they're successful, which we hope, they won't be coming back.
This is what we wanted. We worked and sacrificed for this. Now that it has come, parts of us wish it hadn't.
6 comments:
Congratulations on a job well done, KT.
it's a toughy. About 14 years ago my wife moved out, then my son got his own place, for a year and a bit it was just me and my daughter, then I had to drive her to the airport to see her off to Durham U in UK. That was hard coming back to an empty house. Fast forward, she was married, living in Portland, Oregon, I'm in Toronto. After the second child was born her hubbie wanted out of the marriage, she came back up here and is now living upstairs from me with the two cute grand daughters and everyone is fine.
Have to agree with Dean. This is one of those times where you feel the regret and sadness that accompanies the change. But it is a moment that is, in truth, one in which you and your lovely wife should take great pride and satisfaction. Both in yourselves, and in those young men.
Congrats!
"Everybody was a baby once, Arthur. Oh, sure, maybe not today, or even yesterday. But once. Babies, chum: tiny, dimpled, fleshy mirrors of our us-ness, that we parents hurl into the future, like leathery footballs of hope. And you've got to get a good spiral on that baby, or evil will make an interception. "
-The Tick,
Thanks for the kinds words. That was a pretty tough weekend.
The recent trend is for children to come home after they complete college, so that "less full" nest might be full again in four to six years.
Did both choose schools in California?
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