Today was a big day for several members of the family. First, Hannah got to go back to Penn State. While I think she enjoyed the summer at home with us, she's been ready to go back to school since approximately May 15th. Second, Nick finally got to get his own Penn State experience of to its official start. He's been waiting for this moment for so long that it's hard to believe it's actually here. Finally, with those two departures, Kim and I are one step closer to being empty nesters.
When we got home, I noticed an immediate advantage to having only three people in the house. As I took my flip-flops off, I saw that there was a completely empty shelf in the garage storage unit where we all store our shoes. When we first put the shelves there, we had three kids with small feet. Everybody's shoes fit nicely on the shelves. As the boys' feet grew larger and they started to accumulate all sorts of sneakers, boots, sandals, and cleats, things changed. Shoes would overflow from the shelves, inching ever closer to my car. Every few weeks, I'd come in from work and whine that I was tripping over loose shoes whenever I got out of my car. It never worked. The shoes stayed right where they were.
Now that Nick and Hannah are off to school, I won't need to worry about tripping when I get out of my car -- at least not until winter break, that is. I guess I should be happy. But, as I put my flip-flops up on the shelf, I wasn't happy. I missed Nick's big sneakers. I missed Hannah's sandals. Actually, I missed them.
As I walked in the door, Jay was there to greet me. I gave him a hug and told him how glad I was to see him in our otherwise empty house. "Don't worry. You've got me for three more years," he told me.
He knew exactly what to say to me. I'm thinking I may need to take him shoe shopping tomorrow. There's just a little too much empty space on the garage shelves.
This is where the magic happens.
