The Room, the Boy, the Princess and the (Temporarily) Empty Nest

From the Sublime to the Mundane...

N. did get his room cleaned up last week in time to get on the plane on Thursday.

It is still a bit cluttered.

It is full of Boy stuff, but

you can walk on the floor

to get to the windows,

and the blinds are now open!

I got him some wheeled flat steralite boxes to store things like fishing rods under the bed, and I also got him stackable milk crates for the storage of notebooks and other stuff for Kamana and his other passions.

The desk top can be seen, at least in places where the terrarium that holds the fire-bellied toad is not.

The furniture was dusted, and the room now smells more of lemon oil than of dust.

It looks good. But it is almost uninhabited for the next month.

On Wednesday, I came home from my last day of early summer term IRD teaching (the new term starts day after tomorrow) planning to get up early to put N. on the non-stop flight from ABQ to ORD (O'Hare International).

But you know what they say about the best laid plans of mice and airlines...

As I was entering data at the IRD teacher website, my phone rang...er, played a line from a song chorus. It was a 1-800-number, so I let it go to messages while I finished my work. When I took the message, it was United. N.'s flight had been canceled due to weather...weather? How can a morning flight be cancelled due to weather the night before the weather occurs?

Oh, and by the way, sorry for the incovenience, but the passenger has been scheduled for a later flight through Denver to O'Hare.

So there was nothing for it but to call United and see about getting N. on another non-stop to Chicago. No Dice. I worried. N. has never had to change planes alone at a major airport.

I should not have worried. He followed my advice to ask the uniformed personel at the arrival gate how to find the departure gate. He had lunch. He made a call to me and his aunt on his new cell phone. All went well.

He's having a great time in Illinois.

My house is quiet. And relatively uncluttered.

No strange, crusty dishes appear in the sink at 10 AM.

August 2 feels like a long time away.

Fortunately, my coming five week schedule for IRD has more hours than the first session did.

It will go fast.

When I go to take care of the toad, I leave the spray bottle on the desk.

It feels more normal somehow.

Oh, and did I mention that the Chem Geek Princess has made an offer on a townhouse. One that is in town. So she'll likely be moving out at the end of July.

Do mother birds mourn the empty nest even when one birdlet is coming back?

I miss my boychick!