the times, they are a'changin

  

  This week feels like a Sunday night.  Everyone here is on the horizon of a new chapter in their (summer) lives.  My senior-in-college son started working at his place of internship today, a marketing firm in Princeton.  Dressed in business casual with the official hour for lunch, this morning when he left the house he reminded me of Jim from The Office; tall and handsome with a winning smile.   This is new territory and I'm excited for him.  Makes me proud.

   My youngest son is taking the final exams of his high school sophomore year this week.  That must mean that school is ending.  That must mean that next year he'll be a junior.  That must mean that soon we'll be looking at colleges...which in turn must mean my husband and I will soon be empty nesters.  This I cannot believe. ( This same son also has a Pennsylvania driver's manual sitting on his desk to be studied for his permit test.  That must mean soon he'll be driving ....which is yet another item on my "unbelievable" checklist for life.)

  My middle child, a daughter, heads to camp orientation this weekend in preparation for her second year as a counselor.  I've never seen someone so content to go work in the 90 degree heat all day - she loves that job and is blessed to have it.  Once camp starts we don't see her much anymore except on the weekends, but it's part of the deal.  Experience and paychecks come in exchange for time spent away from home on a daily basis.

  For me, I'm about to enter one of my favorite times of year- my job at the elementary schools takes a break for the summer, and I get to be a full time mom to my three kids for a couple of months.  I love the comings and the goings, the cooking and the cleaning, the hanging out of laundry on the line like my mother used to do, the late night fires and s'mores, and having time to sit by the pool soaking in the sun.  There's nothing quite like it.

  But I do believe the crowning glory will be the first vacation my husband and I get to take alone next week as we travel west to Montana. Five glorious days looking at big sky, open spaces, and ghost towns.  We have no agenda.  We will have no computer.  We will have a car. We will go exploring.  We will eat out- a lot.

We will leave all three children at home.

And that, my friends, is a definite new season for us.