Today has been a sad day for me. Not only because it is the two week mark for
when my son leaves but he is cleaning out his room.
I came upstairs where my 13-year-old son was playing video
games in the living room and noticed a pile of magazines near by. I asked what they were and he said that his brother
(the one going into the Air Force) had given them to him.
It was all his past issues of “Game Informer,” a magazine put
out by Game Stop. I looked at the pile
and sighed. He is giving things away…
Then I heard the sound of a vacuum cleaner coming from
upstairs where my son’s bedroom is. I
went up there to see he had started a pile in the hallway outside of his
room. He was more than just cleaning, he
was getting rid of some things and keeping others.
I should have been happy.
His room has been a pigsty for a long time. He’s had this collection of used plastic cups
going on that could probably fill a garbage bag.
But for some reason the sight of him cleaning only made me
sad. He is preparing. His way of “nesting,” I guess you could say.
I had just said to him yesterday that there is only one
thing I won’t miss when he leaves. It is
the fact that we never have clean bowls.
My son eats cereal several times a day. I think he could actually live on it. But he never brings the bowls down and so
eventually I have to go up there, maneuvering my way through the piles of stuff
on his floor to retrieve the bowls and spoons.
Then I’m irritated because the cereal is caked on and I have
to either scrub it off or let the bowls soak in hot water. Funny how yesterday I thought I wouldn’t miss
those missing bowls and now that he has them piled up and ready to go downstairs,
I suddenly don’t mind.
Of course, then the thought occurs that when he does come
home for leave, he will more than likely never leave another cereal bowl
upstairs. The Air Force will train him
to keep things neat and orderly.
Who would have thought that a boy cleaning his bedroom and the
thought of cereal bowls could make a mom sad?
No comments:
Post a Comment