Thursday, March 21, 2013

Open Road

Okay, I'm back.  I just needed to recover from last weekend's mulch extravaganza.  Plus, Theo is home for Spring Break -- his LAST SCHOOL VACATION EVER, because he will graduate and be commissioned in May and will belong to the Army for at least 4 years.  So I needed to spend a good amount of time just looking at him and telling unsolicited stories about his childhood to anyone who would listen (no one).

I swear, it feels as if it were just yesterday that I wrote this post about his first leaving for college.  YESTERDAY.  And now, here I am, waxing maudlin all over again. 

If I ask nicely, maybe he'll give me a ride...
 Also, he bought a brand-new used car this week.  Larry helped Theo shop for it and then left him at the dealer to finish the paperwork and drive it home.  "By himself?" I asked.  "Can he do that?"

"It's HIS car," Larry said.  "He has a license.  Do you want him to have training wheels or something?"


Well, yes - something like that.  The thought of his being allowed to drive HIS VERY OWN CAR home from the dealership struck me as absurd as Larry and I being allowed, over 21 years ago, to walk out of the hospital with our very own baby, as if we actually knew what we were doing.  Crazy, I tell you - just crazy.

And now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go and warm my shoulder, which is sending me twinge-y pain messages.  It's the left one, the one I seem to have injured during the many years I spent hoisting up hefty toddler legs in order to clean poopy bottoms. I believe the medical term would be "diaper shoulder."  But, hey, I'm not complaining.  Now that all my children are driving off into the sunset (have I mentioned that Anna bought herself the cutest little used pickup truck ever?), it's all I have left to remind me of the good ol' days.

Well, that, and the other 4 kids who are still at home...

12 comments:

  1. My 11 year old just returned from one night away at a school camp and she had a wonderful time, but never wants to be away from us again. I told her should could stay with us forever and she looked relieved. Your post makes me think she'll change her mind one day, and I'm already sad about it.

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  2. Congrats to your son on his new car. How nice for him!

    Hope your shoulder feels better soon.
    ~FringeGirl

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  3. Really, it won't be that long until it's Susie going away to college. I imagine that will be very weird for you.

    (And how anal is it that I looked at your sidebar to make sure I was spelling your child's blog name right? Which makes me wonder- do you ever call your children by their blog names? I would find the two names thing very confusing...)

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    1. I often call them by their blog names. It's pathetic.

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  4. Wow. Buying his own car. Alone.
    Yeah, that's a seriously big milestone.

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  5. this really strikes a chord with me. my oldest is only 15, but i'm very involved with my sisters 4 kids (3 are over 18) and i know how fast this all happens. i'm trying to put on the brakes and slow it down. to be so proud and so sad together - i'm sure it must be the very origin of the word bittersweet.

    and i sometimes call my kids by their blog names too - once when talking to someone who didn't know about my blog. i know she thinks i'm a lunatic, forgetting my own child's name!!

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  6. If I had to remember blog names and real names I would just give up!

    It all does happen fast but I'll tell you when I was 25 and bought a car from a dealer I wish my dad had been with me!!

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  7. I thought it was bad when my 21yo got married, but really, I have less trouble with him having a wife than having bought a car of his own. Of course, he only paid $50 for his... it doubles in value every time he fills the gas tank! :)

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  8. There will be a day that he will like those stories of his childhood.
    The car, I want training wheels on some of them. There are drives that need them.
    That and a device that blocks cell phones.
    It is a whole new dance when the babies learn to fly.
    Good job mom.

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  9. Yay for having your oldest home again! Is this the one who COOKS?

    Sorry about your toddler shoulder. I have minivan shoulder -- from reaching around between the seats to feed/whack/clean children in the back seat. The doctor calls it bursitis, but we know better.

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    1. Yes! He made us a chicken with vegetables stir-fry and lemon bars. And I get minivan neck, myself, from twisting around and trying to reach things. It's very painful.

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  10. They just won't stop growing up.

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