Near Empty House!

by

Patti Dickinson

Silence. Or near silence. The silence of no voices, just household sounds. My spouse good naturedly got up to drive to the airport this morning with Margaret, our going-into-eighth grade daughter who is flying to Boston to begin an Outward Bound. Twelve days roughing it on a sailboat with ten other like-minded, adventuresome girls. Camp-soap-for-washing-all-body- parts-and-hair kind of adventure. They left for the airport about 4:45 a.m. after a handful of my shouted reminders out the back door. Then I walked slowly back to bed, shutting off lights in reverse order as I went. (The reason for the slow part was in case Wood was watching the house from the end of the driveway and I wouldn't want him to see consecutive lights going out too quickly so it wouldn't be so obvious where I was going!)

Mary is at the Lake with her boyfriend and his family for a wedding. Meghan left about 8 a.m. for two days at the lake with a carful of friends. And that leaves Wood and I, and our son, Andrew.

One kid at home. I jokingly told Andrew yesterday that since he was here without siblings (it never happens) that his dad and I could concentrate all of our collective parenting skills on him. That for two nights, he could play only-child. He looked at me warily, searching/hoping for the punch line, until I smiled. He will be out tonight with his girlfriend, or playing late-night tennis with his friends on a lighted court somewhere.

Boy, I am a lucky woman. Kids with a sense of adventure, kids with friends surrounding them. Can't put a price tag on those things, huh? Date night tonight....dinner at Lydia's, my most favorite restaurant, and Wood's not-so-favorite, so it's a nice gesture.

In the coming years, the last four kids at home will grow up and head off to the rest of their lives. Meanwhile, our lives as a couple will play out here....and in many conversations on the front porch, we will reminisce about all the goofy, happy, sometimes sad things that were the script of our lives. Yup, I'm a lucky woman.