This week has been extremely quiet. Of course, you know that my oldest son, Chris, no longer lives at home. And my two younger boys, Matt and Jack, have been spending time with friends. About three weeks ago, Matt went to Kentucky Boys State, which is a five day camp for the top 100 students in the state. The day he got back, he left to spend time at his best friends house and he's been gone ever since. Jack left on Monday to stay with one of his friends and won't be back until Sunday!
I have always jokingly said that I couldn't wait til my kids were grown and gone, and yes, it was a joke! I adore my sons, and for the most part, enjoy their company. However, I have always believed that our purpose as parents, is to raise our children to be productive members of society. I looked forward to the day when they left for college, because that meant that I had done a good job in preparing them for life in general. I'm still looking forward to that day, but I really didn't realize how much it would affect me!
The last few days have been so quiet around here! Now, when Jack is home, things are never calm and quiet. That boy has more energy than the Energizer Bunny. He literally bounces off the walls. Jack can not walk through a room. He jumps across the room, touching the ceiling as many times as possible. Jack rarely sits still, and he has two volumes - loud and louder! The first day that he was gone was actually rather nice. I didn't have to say, "Jack, quit jumping!" once. And then, the quiet started to get to me, and I kind of missed the jumping!
Matt will be a senior in high school when school starts again, and it is so hard to believe that he could be that old. We are looking at colleges, and will probably be taking a few trips this fall to look at schools. At the moment, he seems to be focusing on two schools. Vanderbilt and the University of Louisville are at the top of the list. I couldn't be happier about those two! At first, he was thinking about schools on both the East and West Coasts. I was fine with that - until the time to actually start the process got closer!
Why am I so happy with Vanderbilt and U of L? They are both close to home! Vandy is only about 2 1/2 hours away, and U of L is only 30 minutes from us. I like the idea of being able to go see him if I want to, and I like the idea that he can come home for the weekend. So much for being ready for him to be grown and gone! Of course, I want him to love college like I did (although, I hope he doesn't discover partying like I did!). I want him to make loads of friends, and actually want to stay at school over the weekend. I just want him to come home some, too.
So, I am starting to prepare myself for the empty nest. It won't be completely empty for three more years. Jack still has three years of high school to get through, and I know that I have three more years of telling him to stop jumping. I know that I have three more years of having his friends tromping through the house, and I know that there will still be days when I wish that things were quieter. But I also know that the day is coming when I will wish one of my kids would come bounding through the room, just being a noisy teenager. They really do grow up too fast, and I don't think we can really ever prepare ourselves for the day that they leave. I'm proud of them, and I'm ready to see the men they will grow into. I'm just not ready for my chicks to leave the nest!
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