6 Kids, 3 cats, 1 dog, Mom, and Dad

When a child leaves or Worry is still an option.

We hadn't heard from Son for a couple of days. The spread of time between calls and visits has steadily increased since he moved into his own apartment. This move is different than staying in a dorm room at college. When you live in a dorm you still come home during holidays and school vacations. Your parents save your room and it is there waiting for you when you come back.

When you have three daughters still at home, and two of them share a room, you start to wonder what it would be like to let them each have a room of their own. When Son gets a roommate, and signs a lease for a year, they get to find out.

Now, when he comes to visit, he's welcome to stay overnight and has his choice of two sleeper sofas and a futon.

We hadn't heard from him for a couple of days and Beautiful Wife was having separation anxiety. She wanted to let him know about her upcoming surgery but his cell phone went immediately to voice mail.

I tracked him down at school this morning and found out that his battery needed to be charged and his charger had sprouted legs and somehow walked out of his apartment. I took his phone, got the charger out of my car, plugged it into the outlet in the van that we still let him use, and plugged in his phone so he'd be all set to make calls once he gets out of school.

I also let him know that Mommy was having a hard time not hearing from him and I'd appreciate if he made calling her a priority.

Of course, Mommy would prefer that he thought of that all on his own but Daddy knows that sometimes a kid needs a swift kick in the ass to get moving.

Posted by bbarton at November 9, 2004 12:04 PM