MOVING DAY

My kids, one of my body and one of my heart are moving today.

I miss them already, but I know they need their own lives and their own path and it's way past time for me to find mine.

I still have mountains of papers and stuff all over my tables and on their bed. I did spend the afternoon and evening just cleaning their bathroom. You know it's funny.........what is it about girls and bathrooms? I try to keep mine clean but when makeup is involved something happens.

Where does the dust that gets caught in the hairdryer come from? How does putting on a little mineral makeup cause the powder to appear on bottles not even close to where you're standing? It seems I'm forever cleaning.

As I cleaned and put things in little piles that they can now put in their house, I felt the empty nest twinge again. It was pretty rough when my daughter moved across the country to Florida. She drove away and I felt that emptiness down in the pit of my stomach and it stayed there. For a very long time. She and I have always been close and I felt like I lost my best friend.

Then, as time always manages to do, I adjusted. After six long years her life changed and she left her home and her friends and followed her heart back home. She and her fiance stayed with me until they got on their feet. Here we are, eleven months later and they got their own home and packed up and moved.

Some think that I got my house back. Ok, I did and it will be a little cleaner than it was but there is something to be said for the messes your kids bring. I think it keeps you young. It gives you something to laugh about when you see them doing everything you used to do and laughter is a wonderful, healing thing.

So as moving day has come and gone I am supremely grateful for the opportunity to have my kids home once again. I'm not quite laughing but smiling.

Besides, they'll be back over again today.