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.

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??