Can you hear my lungs empty with a heavy exhale? It's pretty loud. For as much as all the chaos Christmas brings there is a certain bittersweet meloncholy vibe when the house empties out despite their constant eating and other assorted mess making when everybody is home plus their other assorted friends.
My son left this afternoon. I don't know when I will see him next. He is being deployed overseas and as every mother would do, cried uncontrollably when he drove away out of sight. He did leave me with some departing military humor. He refers to Kuwait as 'Satan's Asshole.' See, my son is not your typical shoot-em-up-kill-em-all-blow-them-up-with-nukes kind of a kid. His mode is more of historical and cultural understanding and asks WHY the middle east wants all of us westerners dead. He manages to add doses of humor as well. There are layers and layers history that go into that one. It's a 6 hour conversation at the least. The real problem with the world is that not everybody has a sense of humor.
My daughter is scheduled to leave January 9th for college 3 hours away. Believe me, that is a big deal for her. She has always been glued to my side. It's only been within the last year or so that she has forged her independence. She has opportunities to attend college on the east coast and elsewhere but the only place she would ever consider is Hawaii. She was not ready for that when the offer was there. Hawaii sounds so glamorous, but the poverty and drugs are their ugly other side they don't show the tourists. Plus, the realization of being on an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and home being a 5 hour plane ride away makes mom toooooooo far away should the flu strike.....and it does. Three hours via auto is perfect. No plane ride required should something happen where she needs mom, but far enough away where popping home to do laundry and raid my fridge for food will not happen.
My boy has wanderlust and my girl is a cling peach. Go figure.
Anyway, I guess after having a housefull for the past week or so has left me a sense that people LOVE to come over here....and stay.....and stay. I'm chuckling as I type this. I had a houseful Christmas Eve and super-houseful Christmas Day. Nobody wanted to leave. I had to give some not-so-sublte cues that it was time for guests to go home. Even those went unheeded.. Repeat cues. Not sure what draws people here but I suppose good food is always a plus. I had every race, color, and creed here Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. What a motley crew.
During a short and much needed break in the chaos Christmas Day I called my family back in Minnesota. My mother answered the phone. There was pretty much silence in the back ground. I asked how their Christmas was going. The only ones there were my sister, mom, dad, and my grand-niece. It was at that moment I realized how disconnected my family was. Everybody was off doing their own thing. In contrast I had a hodge-podge of family and friends hanging about.
Anyway, I'm all over the board tonight. I'm allowed. it's my blog and I'm not forcing anybody to read this. I'm just relaxing and venting.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment