My son is now a young man, looking to find his way in this world.  He is seeking gainful employment, with his eyes on the prize.  The prize is moving out on his own.  I’m excited for him…anxious to see him grow…eager to see what path he takes in life.  With all that said….I will miss him when he leaves home.  I will miss how he:

• goes to the grocery store for me
• picks up my mail
• makes me laugh every day
• bonds with our puppy
• talks geek with me
• shares his love of music
• is my in-house tech guy
• cracks me up with his sense of humor
• rolls his eyes at me when I’m being too much of a “Mom”
• fixes the broken faucets
• updates my computers
• makes me laugh out loud
• shares his passion for computers and hardware
• he is willing to have great conversations with me on random topics

I could go on, but I won’t.  Sure, it is nice to have my own little handy man around, but I will miss his sense of humor and his conversations about his life passions the most.   I am always amazed when we get into the indepth conversations.  He has such a depth of understanding on social issues, political topics, and when he is excited about a topic…stand back.  The boy knows his stuff.  When I ask him how he knows so much about the subject, he just looks at me like “Duh…I research and look things up.”

Yep, I will miss him.   Shhh…don’t tell.

I arrived home from work, parked my car in the garage and bounced into the house ready to say hello to my two kids.  They had been home all day, hanging out, doing some small chores, relaxing, playing.   The sight that greeted me was slightly unusual.

Not only two kids greeted me, but three.  A friend of my sons was also at the house and they were all sitting quietly on the sofas.  As a mother, the first thing that comes out of my mouth is…

“What’s going on?”

The response isn’t what I expected.   What I got back was…

“Mom, we are waiting for UPS.”

What?  With a flash of memory, this all of a sudden made sense.  My son had ordered a new monitor for his computer.  Not just any monitor, but a

SAMSUNG TOC T260HD Rose Black 25.5″ 5ms HDMI Widescreen HDTV Monitor 300 cd/m2 DC 10000:1(1000:1) Built in TV Tuner & Dolby Digital Surround Sound.

Typically the UPS deliveries arrive at my house around noon, but not today.  Not when it is a delivery of very great importance!  They were waiting patiently for the truck to arrive. Actually, they were TRYING to wait patiently.

Not ten minutes after I arrived home…Ding Dong!  Bark Bark!   Door opens…there stands the valued UPS delivery driver, monitor in hand.   Oh the sheer look of excitement and joy on my sons face.  I’m sure that someday a girl will dream about seeing that same look when she arrives on his doorstep.  (O.K. a mom can dream a little too, but I think I’m getting ahead of myself!)

After much oohing and aahing, the troops head up to my sons “media center”  to set up the coveted monitor.  This room used to be referred to as a bedroom, but the bed was long ago replaced with the trappings of geekdom.   Hmmm…. I wonder when I will see my son again? Merry Christmas, son.

Many of you have experienced those phone calls from your kids.   They have gotten themselves into a situation, and you need to come and help them out.    I am very fortunate that my first call (I think! or perhaps I’ve blocked out past calls…?) occured this past week.

It was 12:36 a.m on a Thursday.  I’m in a deep sleep, still recovering from my vacation.   My son has been out with his friends at a concert.  Typically, when he heads home from a night out, he will send me a text message.   I am used to reading, “heading home now” from the light of my cell phone.  Tonight was different.   When the phone rang instead of the familiar beep of a text message, I knew that this wasn’t going to be good news.

“Mom, we got out of the concert, but the garage where we parked our car closes at midnight.  We can’t get our car out to drive home.  Can you come and get us?”

After the words “ohhh, Lee”, escaped my lips, my brain immediately started calculating my choices.  I have given him the speech many times that “If you have been drinking and need a ride home, you call ME!”   I knew that this wasn’t the situation.  They had been in the under 21 section of a concert hall.  Could I refuse to come and get him because it wasn’t the “I’ve been drinking” situation?  Should I make them find an alternate ride home?   Within a split second, I realized that this wasn’t an option.  I didn’t want more teenagers out on the street after midnight.

“Stay there, son.  I’m on my way.”

The good news is that the highway is deserted at this hour.  The drive downtown only took 15 minutes.   As I pulled up at the gas station where my son and his friends were waiting for me, I knew what my parental pay-back would be.

“Son, while we are here, you can put some gas in my car.”

“But, Mom, that’s expensive.”

As I pointed to my watch to remind him of the time of day, and the fact that he had gotten me out of bed…

“O.K. Mom, but do I have to fill it up completely?”

“$20 worth, will be fine!”

The clock read 1:35 a.m. as I crawled back into bed.  “Not bad.” I thought.  Phone call to back in bed in 59 minutes…. Of course, it took another hour for me to relax and fall back to sleep.   Did someone mention empty nest is coming soon??

I am so immensely proud of you! I’m the luckiest Mom in the world to have such a great son!