I was sitting in a parking lot early this morning (12:30 am) watching the bus that William was on being unloaded from his trip to Europe. Finally I saw him get off the bus and then it happened. I realized that he’s not our little kid anymore and he is ready to take that next step out into the big world.
I remember when I finally realized it with Kyle. We were in a motel room in Minneapolis talking about Kyle’s flight the next day to Korea. He was having trouble getting in touch with his Korean adviser, and Daryl and I were really nervous about that. Finally Kyle said that he’d check once more for any emails once he landed at the airport and if he didn’t get anything from this person, he’d just get a cab and get a hotel in Seoul and figure it out the next day. Daryl and I looked at each other and thought that this was a good plan and everything did work out when he landed. The person was waiting for Kyle at the airport and it wasn’t a big deal. Now watching William get off the bus this morning with his new beard and mustache, I hardly recognized him. It made me a little sad when I figured out at that moment William will also do just fine out in the big world. I’m sure that he’ll still need us for advice or someone to talk to about stuff, but those conversations have become less and less, and to be honest we expect them to. But it’s kind of a weird feeling when you realize that your kids are growing up. I remember that it wasn’t that long ago when I saw William get off a school bus for the first time and it’s kind of the same feeling that I had today. He looked confident and was having a good time and was ready to see what the next day was going to bring. For me? It made me happy and sad at the same time. Well maybe a little bit more sad than happy to be honest.
But once I got him in the car he was still wired from the trip. I booked a hotel for the night close to where I picked him up at and we went back to it for the rest of the night. After he took a shower, he talked about how much fun he had and what a great experience it was. He said that he couldn’t even say what he liked best because everything was so unbelievable. I think he probably caught the same travel bug that Kyle caught a couple of years ago. I’m anxious to get to talk to him more about it and check out his pictures. When we got back to the farm this afternoon, he took off to meet some of his friends and then tonight he’s at his girlfriends house.
I spent the rest of the day doing errands in town and making a couple of cards. One was one that my Mom wanted and the other one was a wedding card that I’ll need this weekend for my niece. I also have a couple of orders for candy that people want this weekend, so I started to get the things that I could make ahead of time done. Making candy if it’s real humid in the house doesn’t work, so I cranked up the AC tonight. I must say that the house is pretty comfortable when the thermometer is set in the 70’s.
Sympathy card
Wedding card