The incredible increasing speed of life

My traveling muffin got back last Monday night. For all except Logan, the reunion has been warm and poignant. (He was only 20 months old when she left and really doesn't know what to do with her).

During the last week we have been busy, busy, busy. There was the unpacking, the doctor's appointments, the hair appointments, and the at-first-very-interested listening, and then the tolerantly-polite-trying-not-to-yawn listening to the seemingly endless list of Venezuela wonders. There was lots of Venezuelan candy and cookies to eat, a driver's license to get replaced (her purse was stolen while there), and MOUNDS of correspondence from Boston University to go through.....did you know that the beds in the dorms require extra long twin sheets? I didn't.

And then there's the emotional work; getting reacquainted (cuz we all have changed), some minor psychological trauma from a lunch with the ex-boyfriend, and some moderate psychological trauma from not being able to fit into all the clothes that she left here. But the biggest emotional trauma has been leaving "Mi amor de vida" (the love of my life) back there. She is definitely suffering all the symptoms of one separated from her beloved.

I honestly tried to get her to stand in front of this sign so I could take her picture, but she was constantly flitting away to meet another friend to catch up. And now she's gone again. She and the stud-ly muffin went on a week-long mission trip with their dad's church to Tennessee. She'll be back. I know this is true. But somehow this separation is a little harder -- maybe because I just got her back and then had to let go. But really, even when she was here, she wasn't really here. Any of you Empty-Nesters reading this know what I mean. She loves us, is happy to see us and be together and all that, but there's a different kind of separateness....and unto herself-ness that wasn't there before she left for the exchange. I KNOW this is what's supposed to happen. It's still a bit of a shock.

The moral of the story (for me, mainly), is that when the mini-muffins are driving me ABSOLUTELY INSANE, I try, try, try, try, try, try, try, TRY, T R Y to remember that it won't be long before they are in a space unto themselves.