It's been a strange week. Looking around, everything seems to carry on as usual, but something is missing. Is my spleen still here? My body seems to be functioning as normal, but there is a cavity that used to be filled with something useful, and my organs are just not feeling as cozy lately. The leftover pizza seems to be lasting longer than feels right. The dishwasher and kitchen garbage seems to stop magically emptying themselves. We are one toothbrush shy of natural. And I can't get my hand to stop grabbing 9 forks when I set the table.
 |
| His Favorite Scripture- Jacob 6:12: O be wise; what can I say more? |
The Frog went to the Missionary Training Center for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints last Wednesday. 1:30pm, but who's tracking. (me) He jumped out of the van, flung his one rolling bag from the trunk ("Is that all you brought?" his host companion said) and waved goodbye (we took photos with the family at home before he left). That was it. There goes the beginning of the end of my life as a mother
Ok, I'm being dramatic, it will be another 18 years (at least) until the rest of my non-essential organs go off and leave me to slowly age and die* fend for myself, but this is truly a new phase of life and I'm not sure how I feel about it.
And why is it so quiet? You'd think the other 7 people I'm living with would fill the void as quickly as my toddlers fill my phone memory with blurry photos, but it occurs to me- we didn't just lose our oldest child. He took with him all 8 relationships he had with every other member of our family. 36 relationships down to 28. That's almost 1/4 of the relationships in this house! How inconsiderate!
We are so proud of his maturity and willingness to put his life on hold for two years for the Lord and the people of Vancouver, WA. But I sure miss him already. 12 days down, only 718 to go.
*The other day, Newt turned to me during lunch and said very matter-of-factly, "Mom. When you get too old you're going to die." True.
