<p>There I was, calmly pushing my shopping cart down the jam and jelly aisle. S consumes quite a lot of pb and j, and I was debating between mixed berry and raspberry as an alternaitve to the near empty jar of strawberry that is currently in the frige. Might as well get both, I thought as I put them in the cart. </p>
<p>And then I remembered. Three weeks from today S leaves to be a junior counselor at a sleepaway camp. Then he is back for three more weeks before he leaves for orientation. I don’t need two huge jars of jam…</p>
<p>I haven’t been very sentimental about my youngest leaving the nest. But those jam jars suddenly made it seem very soon and very real.</p>
<p>I agree…it is little things like going down the aisles in the supermarket or loading up the laundry and realizing they ain’t here! I recall that feeling the first week or two after my first chld left for college. I was realizing no need to pick up this or that favorite item at the market and wow, the laundry is lighter, etc. It does hit home. I might really go nuts this fall when neither is here…like you.</p>
<p>both of our cats died within 6 months of each other.
It was sad going down the pet aisle- our lab really misses not having cat food any more.
Of course it is nice not having to hunt down the “friends” they brought home to share.
When my daughter goes back to school this year, she isn’t planning on coming back- which will be sad, but I will have to make sure she lives in a big enough place so I can go visit!</p>
<p>I always stock up on Gatorade, pineapple yogurt, and a certain type of TastyCakes that my son likes before his vacations. The rest of the time, there is no need to buy these things :(</p>
<p>We live across the street from the lawn where the big tent is put up for graduation (we live on the campus of our S’s boarding school) . . .when the tent went up last Tuesday I got such a lump in my throat! As I watched them take it down today, it was much harder.</p>
<p>Then, guess what happened! They moved the huge tent to the BACK of the house to the lawn there for alumni weekend! We will have non-stop party time for the whole weekend. Just wish I could be in charge of the music!</p>
<p>MotherOfTwo…ok, you gotta be from Philly cause nobody I know has heard of TastyCakes except those in my “old” neck of the woods where I grew up (outside of Philly). Anyone where I live now would not have heard of those!</p>
<p>MomOfThree…if you read this, I saw you tried to PM me and my box was full as usual. I can’t keep up with cleaning it out and I like to save some messages so I can keep everyone straight (must be getting old and also the posting names are not like real names). So, I left some space though I much prefer email. Look forward to hearing from you.
Susan</p>
<p>Wish: don’t forget that you’ll have to adjust your shopping habits several times a year - each time your S leaves for school and each time he comes back for break.</p>