When the "kids" come home for the holidays

old_music_prnt
Sat, 11 Jan 2025 16:14:04 +0000

Our S was home for Christmas several days and we were grateful. His old room is pretty much as he left it and he does have some clothing here (not that he is here that often). Funny story, he asked us “is it okay if I come in Christmas Eve, I want to visit a friend first” (said friend is a girl, but he didn’t say girlfriend). He knows us, we are just grateful whatever time he can spend with us. We had a big surprise, we decided to do a Chinese restaurant near us, which was kind of an inside joke as it is one of those places that is kind of gaudy, the food wasn’t all that great, but we used to go there after my son had performances growing up; the surprise was the food was really good. fortunately we booked a late dinner, because the Amtrak train he was taking was delayed, but we still had plenty of time.

We have an added twist to the ‘kids’, we just have our son, but he is a member of a classical string quartet, and in the last year or so they have been staying with us more and more (they were here for a couple of days this week). We redid the extra bedrooms, which had been an office, and an exercise room and what had been my son’s ‘music room’, and made them comfortable for the other members. They really have become like family, and my wife enjoys cooking for them (they love to eat, when they travel my son always shows us what they are eating, and they generally eat together most days on the road or even at home). I think they like staying here because the way our house is set up, they kind of have the midlevel as their own, and my wife and I give them all space, which I think they appreciate too.

I think he enjoys coming home, sometimes I was worried he was bored, that he often would be in his room doing things, but my wife told me he was really glad to be home and be able to detox from stress and such. Given his traveling schedule we don’t see him all that much and usually it is a couple of days, but we are glad for that time and the times when they are in our area for performances and the like because they now feel comfortable staying here. We are fortunate, our son keeps us in his life, he generally texts us every day, sends pictures of where they are, shares things going on, so in a sense we aere with him often:)