<p>Sigh… my parents have returned to their own home after a holiday visit; son just drove on back to his University, and, all of a sudden, the house is way tooooooo big again! Anybody else sent their kid back to school yet?</p>
<p>Ours both left today too. It’s just us and the cat. And yes…the house IS too big.</p>
<p>Working son left Wednesday, college son leaves Monday. I really got used to having them home!</p>
<p>One gone and one still here. Luckily a large amount of clothing left with the child so I can see into his room now! When he is home he takes over the dining room table as his desk which is set up with not one, but two laptops. It sure is nice to have my dining room back.</p>
<p>D goes back tomorrow, S will be here another 10 days or so. It’s been really nice having them home but will be equally enjoyable to have our house back.</p>
<p>Our S left a week ago to spend time with his Uncle and will starts classes on Tuesday. Our house is so quiet and empty. H & I went to visit a grand old Chicago house today, and will go to a museum tomorrow with our D who doesn’t live with us. We won’t see our son for 6 months.</p>
<p>Dropping my <em>husband</em> off at college this weekend!</p>
<p>Last semester, DH landed a job as a college professor a thousand miles away from where I’m currently working, and I’m not going to be able to move to where he is for at least six months. We’re out here right now, getting his apartment set up, and I keep wanting to unpack my suitcase! I keep remembering that I’ve got to go home Tuesday morning! Went to Target today and bought all the things he needed for his apartment, including cups and paper plates and a can opener. Sure felt like we were buying stuff for him to go off to college. As he gathered about eight Lean Pockets boxes (“on sale!” he exclaimed) from the freezer section, I threatened to take a picture and entitle it “Regression”.</p>
<p>Monday is our first wedding anniversary, so at least we’ll be together for that, but I’m not looking forward to going back to our home in Houston and taking down all the Christmas decorations. Thank heavens for cats and frequent flier miles.</p>
<p>D drove back to Houston last Sunday to unpack & repack. Monday she flew to BF in another state. They’ll return to campus together tomorrow. This year I have a commuter H - as of mid-November he works full time in another city and, after the more frequent holiday returns, will be home every other weekend or so. After I recover from all the holiday activity and visiting an ailing, elderly relative in Alabama later this month, I’ll be going to him once a month.</p>
<p>All week it’s already felt like the 1st week of January - really strange. I kept having to remind myself it was okay for the decorations to still be up!</p>
<p>Congrats to your H on the new job aibarr!</p>
<p>S1 was only home for three days over Christmas, and S2 left on 12/30 to fly to New Zealand for winter (their summer) term. You know your house is too big when it takes you days and days to put it back together.</p>
<p>I’d love to downsize, but that’s not going to happen in this economy.</p>
<p>Aibarr, how great that your DH has a wonderful new job. I understand the regression: Did he buy a lava lamp and some cool posters to hang on his walls?</p>
<p>we are very fortunate that we were able to downsize a few years ago. </p>
<p>with a finished basement, though, it doesn’t seem much smaller when it’s time to clean!</p>
<p>my youngest leaves wednesday for study abroad in austria–i’m already dreading the whole goodbye thing–and it’s never as bad as i imagine it will be! anticipation of a dreaded event is always worse, isn’t it?</p>
<p>so the house will be very empty and very quiet again. i’ll hate it.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>He’s going more for the “spartan bachelor” look. ;)</p>
<p>aibarr- D and I were just talking about what you and your H were doing about his job opportunity, so I’m glad to read your post. I know it won’t be easy, but at least there are easy means of communication in this day and age. ALWAYS thank heaven for cats!</p>
<p>S2 is home for one more week. He leaves on Sat. Time is precious.</p>
<p>aibarr, we had the same experience when H went 1000 mi. away for a sabbatical for the school year. He drove with a lot of stuff, arriving on Labor Day weekend before 9/11. He spent a week looking for a furnished, affordable apt. I flew out the next weekend and we set it up. We had to go get him a microwave and TV and sign up for utilities and all that. It really was like college. We noticed that neither of us slept really well apart. It was really funny because either he flew home or I went there (or nearby for business) every 2-3 weeks (thank goodness for Southwest and frequent flyer trips). We would spend about an hour together in one place or another and both promptly fall asleep and sleep really soundly for at least 8-10 hours. It was like clockwork.</p>
<p>Be glad your house feels too big. Even after my two are gone (one is now a college freshman and the other is an 8th grader), our cozy little townhouse won’t feel “too big.” But at least I won’t have to share the one bathroom with three other people!</p>
<p>i assure you, notmamarose, that one day, you will miss sharing that bathroom. i know that come thursday, a one-bedroom, one bath apt will feel way to big. it’s not the size of the house, it’s the emptiness of the heart.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Wow. Profound. And poetic.</p>
<p>S1 leaves tomorrow for his last semester of college so it is sort of bittersweet that this is the last “Christmas break” for him. Next Christmas he will be in the military so don’t now if we will see him or not. S2, a freshman, goes back to college on Thurs. After being here for more than three weeks, I can tell he is getting “antsy” and will prob. be ready to go back. We will miss them but not the chaos that their crazy schedules bring when they are here,lol.</p>
<p>As he gathered about eight Lean Pockets boxes (“on sale!” he exclaimed) from the freezer section, I threatened to take a picture and entitle it “Regression”</p>
<p>Well as long as he doesn’t start decorating with a tower of PBR cans
;)</p>
<p>here’s some decorating inspiration</p>
<p>[MyFox</a> Colorado | 15,569 Beers on the Wall, and Counting…](<a href=“http://www.myfoxcolorado.com/myfox/pages/Entertainment/Detail?contentId=8181951&version=1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=7.1.1]MyFox”>http://www.myfoxcolorado.com/myfox/pages/Entertainment/Detail?contentId=8181951&version=1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=7.1.1)</p>
<p>My D is home for 2 more weeks. I love having her here, though my house seems smaller when everyone is home. When she was away for the first semester, I actually saw my house cleaner and lasting for a longer period of time. There was still plenty of eggs in the refrigerator and bread in the bin. It like having a whirlwind and tornado in my house when she is home.</p>