A Trial Period

Next week will be a trial period for me...Drew will be going off to Day camp everyday for a week.

I am so excited for him because this will be a wonderful end to summer and he will get to spend time with other kids his own age. But there is another side of me that will miss him during the day.

Since he was about 18 mos old, I have had the honor of being his caregiver while his single Mom was at work. When he started school, he spends his spring, summer and winter breaks with us which gives me a break from all the driving to and from his home to my home (not to mention savings on gasoline!). He sees his Mom on her days off from work and I cannot help but feel the silence as soon as they leave our driveway on these days. I relish the quiet for about 10 minutes and then I find both my husband and I are making remarks such as "Boy! Did it quiet around here or what?" or "Miss the little guy....".

Well, school will be starting again in a few short weeks and we will have to get used to not having him around the farm except on weekends that his Mom is working. So, maybe Day Camp will be a good thing for me. It may help me to gradually adjust to the "empty nest" syndrome.

So, what will I do next week when he is gone all day? I guess I can catch up on some work, like cleaning the basement, canning some of the tomatoes that are suddenly appearing in abundance,  go to lunch with friends, and give my husband a hand at the shop. Of course there's always something to do around what we affectionately call "the high maintenance farm".

It will just be soooo quiet though. No spontaneous hugs and "Mai, I love you". No discussions on remodeling the chicken coop, how big the pumpkins are getting in his pumpkin patch, what silly Patrick said to Spongebob, what job I will have at the Zoo he will have when he grows up or how we will move all our animals to Texas when we all move there one day (Drew's idea...very big one I might add).

Feeding fruit scraps to chickens and Star

Well, I adjusted to his mother leaving the coop...I know the day will come when we will see Drew less and less as he grows into his teen years and then on to being an adult. This is good. This is why we are here as parents and grandparents. We are supposed to help them grow into adults that make good choices and are independent.

So, I will settle for being grateful that we have such a wonderful opportunity to help our daughter raise Drew and that we have been gifted with being able to spend so much time with him for now.

But it will be soooo quiet.....

Mai