I take a
deep breath and just try to absorb the moment.
Nothing special is going on, I'm just making some lunch and my son is
playing on the computer in the other room.
It’s just the two of us home right now as his sister is at Girl Scout
Camp for two weeks and his dad is at work.
It’s just that lately I've become all too aware that days like this will
be gone way before I'm ready for them to end.
My daughter is 14 and my son is 11 ½
. Each summer seems to mean I have less
and less time with them as they are more inclined to be doing things with
friends or pursuing their own interests.
We dropped my daughter off at Girl Scout Camp about an hour away from
home two days ago. She will be there for
two weeks. She’s gone to camp before,
but this is the first time it’s been longer than a week. I missed her before we even got to the camp. She starts high school in August and of
course at this point it’s about spending as much time with her friends and
boyfriend as she can.
Last night my son spent the night
with a friend. It meant that it was just
my husband and me at home with the dogs.
I usually love having that alone time with my husband. Last night it just felt like the house was
empty. This morning when he went to
work, it felt even emptier. I was so
relieved when it was time to go pick my son up from his sleep over.
It’s just a normal week day during
summer break. I’m doing things around
the house and trying to get some of my own things done. He’s finished eating his lunch and is now
downstairs playing on his Xbox. I’ll be
going to the grocery store soon. But,
the fact that we're in the same house for most of the day is really all that
matters.
So,
again I just close my eyes and only focus on the sound of his voice as he’s
talking to his friends over his Xbox and the feel of the house when he’s
home. I try to focus all my senses on
the simple experience of doing laundry, cleaning the kitchen and preparing to
go to the store while he’s here in the house with me. All too soon it'll be over and we'll be
building memories with our children as adults instead of as kids.
