School days

School's back in session.  After a summer of longing for just a moment of quiet, it always, always comes sneaking up on me.

What to do with the free time? I’ll often do chores that were impractical while the kids were running to and fro -- sorting out their clothes is such a task. Fifteen years separates our oldest from our youngest...and over the years, there've been plenty of hand-me-downs which, for one reason or another, I can't bring myself to part with.  

I sit on the floor in silence, arranging three piles:  Too Small, Too Big and Just Right. Forgotten patterns printed on soft and faded fabrics catch the corners of my eyes.  A wave of melancholy washes over me, and I am moved to bury my face into the long-ago fabric I hold in my hands.  Eyes closed, I breathe in deeply, searching for just a thread of their by-gone aromas…forever interwoven somewhere deep within the fibers. 

A slideshow of lost photographs pass through my mind, always beginning with the first…barely toddling and dressed for fall…in the front yard of our house on Uintah, picking a flower and holding it up for the camera…his face a study of sober love for his mother.

It seems like it was only yesterday…but it was almost 19 years ago…

This morning our number one son left for college.

My, my, my…how time does fly.  

Boo, 

Thanks for leading the way for those who came after

Keep shining your light on those all around you

We are so proud of you, already I miss you

We love you so, God bless and keep you

- mom-