He's off on his new adventure

Alrighty then.

Ian is on his way to college. He left about an hour ago and the house is very, very quiet. I’m not quite sure where I’m at yet, but miraculously, I am NOT crying. That’s probably because I am excessively dehydrated from the past 5 days. Not sure there are any more tears left to shed right now. I’ll give it a few hours. J is coming over in an hour or two to babysit me today and I’m sure we will work into it. It’s a minute by minute, hour by hour thing.

Ian cried a little when he got in his Dad’s car. I really didn’t expect it, but I’m not sure why. This is a pretty momentous change for him, leaving his friends and home and everything familiar. But he is also so excited. His roommate called last night and they gabbed for nearly a half an hour about their room. Simon is there already and is waiting impatiently for Ian to get there. They have plans already. And a very busy weekend ahead...including a big party on Saturday night. I think he’ll be fine once he’s there and settled in.

We spent a lot of time talking yesterday and last night, went out for lattes and eats, did some last minute shopping and just cruised around town so he could say goodbye to his favorite haunts. We both are starting new lives at the same time and at the end of four years we both are supposed to know what we want to be when we grow up. We laughed about it...wondering which of us will figure it out first. Comparing notes along the way. One thing is for sure, our lives may have changed overnight, but we are still very close and we will continue to be. It’ll just be a different kind of close and a more grown up relationship now. We are both actually looking forward to that.

He wants me to go down and spend a weekend the latter part of September or early October. And then, of course, there will be a long Christmas vacation with the collection of friends already assured that they are welcome here and there will be festivities galore. The social whirl this week was astonishing. They all seemed to really need the promise of get-togethers at Christmas.

So...that’s where things are at this moment. I’m feeling kind of empty, I guess. Tired and sad and yet feeling better than I thought I’d feel. Or maybe just a little numb for now. That’s okay. It sort of feels as if he just left for another extended vacation with his Dad this morning and I’m used to that. So, I’m not sure when the reality will finally hit me. I’ll start sorting myself out in the coming days and you will assuredly hear all about it. That’s what blogs are for, right?

And, in the meantime, I have an awful lot of cleaning to do. The house looks like multiple bombs went off in every room. It’s a big project moving someone out and sorting belongings that stay, go, or will be discarded. It’s a good thing that today is trash day. We hauled a lot to the curb early this morning. It’s going to take days to put this place back in order. I’m not quite ready to start that today, but, then again, J might have other ideas, too. She’s very good at these sorts of things and a very, very dear friend. I’m going to need her as the day wears on, I’m pretty sure.