I’m sorry it’s been so long. Fortunately my computer issues
are as resolved as they’re going to get for now, and I’m trying to get caught
up. Again. In the meantime, this is an old post I ran across that I never
published. Hope you’ve enjoyed your summer!
For several weeks now, I’ve been asking him if he would be
ready.
He blew home at the end of spring, and the house just hasn’t
been the same all summer. He dropped his
things in his room where he stood, and they’ve stayed there since, some of them
still in garbage bags. Years ago I
learned to choose my battles, and my son’s mess was such a mighty contender that I surrendered early on.
He left a collection of dirty dishes near the computer in
the basement. He left bags of chip
crumbs and little plastic yogurt cups for the dog to get into and then vomit
up.
He worked on his car in the garage whenever he had spare
time. It became a hangout for the kids,
like their own private annex. They set
up chairs out there. The tools and car
parts were everywhere. Greasy black
fingerprints marked a path through the house.
I cleaned them, but they appeared with such regularity that I gave up,
figuring I’d wait till after he went back.
And then, the day before he was due to move back to college,
I got home from work.
His car was put together, and the garage was cleaned
out. As in, clean. The black fingerprints were gone. His room was packed up and as clean as it
gets. The lawn had been mown. He had done all that I had asked and then
some. It was all so neat and clean, it
broke my heart.
Ready? Guess so.
