It’s that time of year … College kids around the country are returning home for the Thanksgiving break. For some, it’s a long weekend. For others, it’s a full week or even 10 days, as it is for my son.
This is only H’s second year of college, but it’s his fourth year living away from home. As I wrote in 2019, every school break requires an adjustment period. What makes Thanksgiving particularly tricky is that it’s the first break of the school year and it’s the shortest, so by the time you figure it out, you’re saying goodbye again.
But this year seems different somehow. As I said before, this isn’t our first time doing the reentry dance and I don’t want to brag — or jinx it — but so far, we’re crushing it!
Alright, so it’s only been 3-1/2 days since H came home, and two of those days he spent visiting friends and his grandparents, but so far, so good.
Maybe it’s because he’s older now and more mature. Maybe it’s because I’m older now and (slightly) less uptight. Or maybe it’s because the fourth time’s a charm. Whatever it is, it’s working. At least right now. Check back with me on Sunday morning when we’re getting him ready to go back to Vermont; we’ll see then if the rest of the week was rainbows and unicorns, or if we were both ready for him to go back to school. My money’s on the latter (experience tells me so).
Despite my prediction for the remainder of the week, I’m happy he’s home. Truly. I love our talks and I love seeing him bond with his brother. Plus it doesn’t hurt that he can run errands for me, particularly this week when I’m slammed with work deadlines and Thanksgiving prep. But even less than 4 days in, there are a few telltale signs my college kid is home that I could do without. For example,
- There are clothes and shoes everywhere. Literally EVERYWHERE.
- The laundry room is overflowing. And it smells kinda funky.
- The grocery bill this week has doubled.
- There’s a half-filled glass on the kitchen counter ALL THE TIME.
- The bowls and spoons have gone missing again.
- His bedroom door is perpetually closed (but at least I can’t see the mess, so it’s not all bad).
- The toilet seat is left up. (I trained him better, but that’s what happens when you live with 5 other guys, I guess.)
- My car is always missing (but as I said before, at least he can run errands and pick up his brother for me).
- My charge cord is also missing. (Guess we know what he’s getting for Christmas.)
- It’s much louder at home (except in the mornings, since he doesn’t wake before noon).
But above all that, the biggest sign that H is home is that my heart is full. I love it when we’re all together, even if only for a few days at a time. Actually, I might even like that better because it makes me appreciate him even more. He really is a good kid and I’m proud of the man he’s becoming.
Now if he could just fold his laundry and pick up his crap …
-LJDT
