"THE" time is near.....

Well, that's it.  "He" (Man-Child, for those of you that may not know) leaves on Friday.  Heading off to college.  Leaving his poor old mother alone.....(okay, okay....Hubby will be here.  But still.....it's not the same as having your one and only offspring under your watchful eye and you know it!)

Surprisingly, I've done fairly well up to now (you can't count "THE" events, like the Mass and the Graduation) (and okay, re-reading that made me cry again!).  Come Friday, all bets are off though.  By then I'll be one big, hot mess.  There will be tears and snot everywhere.  (Sorry for the graphic description, but I know it will be true.)

The surprising change has been in Man-Child.  He has been extra needy of late.  He's also been extra crafty. As in, "Hey Mom, wanna make me some cornbread?  Cookies?  Cake?  'Cause, ya' know, I'm LEAVING soon!"

Or, "Hey Dad, Chinese food sounds REALLY good right now!  Ya' know....I'm LEAVING soon, right?"

*sigh*

I have to give it to him, that boy does know how to work it.

In addition to the requests for favorite foods there has been extra hugs, extra "I love you's" (from out of nowhere I might add) and, as an added bonus, extra rough-housing.

Yes, I said rough-housing.  Despite the fact that MC is nearly a grown man and my husband is definitely old enough to be considered a grown man, these two have acted like brothers forEVER.  And the rough-housing, which had somewhat died off in the past year or so, is back on with a vengeance.  I guess, despite the level of open affection that we share in this house; for men that affection can only be shown as long as there is rough-housing in the mix.  Hugs and kisses just don't do it for them.

In fact, I just had to interrupt this post (that originally had NOTHING to do with rough-housing) to go in and scold them.  I swear we almost lost a window, various assorted knick-knacks, a coffee table and a hip!

And truthfully?  I can't afford a new hip for Hubby right now, much less a window, a coffee table or a knick-knack.

At any rate, I think it is finally dawning on MC that he is really going.  In fact, he said as much to his dad.....as he forced his father to sit with him in his pigsty room yesterday as he went through some of the things he wanted to take with him.

And what he's packed so far?  I'm glad you asked.  He has packed a HUGE box full of books.  That's it.

Novels that he has already read, I might add.  Novels that he won't have room, nor the time for, once he gets where he's going.

And with that, I can definitely proclaim that he takes after ME....

It's also finally beginning to become real for me too.....especially after a friend asked me today, no less than FOUR times, that "You're gonna be okay, right?"  And why do I have this nagging feeling that come Friday morning I'll have a text from her asking me the same thing?

But as of tomorrow, we crack down.  We begin to pack all that really needs to be packed.  I'm sure there will be surreptitious sniffles (mainly from me) as we figure out exactly what needs to be done.  And then we will pack the car and go to bed early so we can be out on the road before the sun actually comes up.

Hmmm.....and I wonder why I haven't been sleeping so well this past week?