Change is in the air. And it's dusty.
The final moments of summer are upon us. My Facebook news feed is filling with the smiling faces of eager new college students getting dorm rooms set up and the laments of the parents who will miss them.
My own children are readying themselves for next stages as well. The youngest is completing his packing for his own big college move-in this weekend. His brother is sorting, tossing, organizing, and packing away a lifetime of collections (t-shirts, legos, golf balls, bits of stage sets from theater productions past) as he gets ready to move to Michigan for a year of long-hour-short-pay theater interning. The eldest just got her first 'real job' offer and will soon be hunting for roommates and an apartment.
We're about to be left home alone with the dog.
Meanwhile, my husband and I are finishing up our summer trip down memory lane. In fulfillment of a commitment to act earlier in the BlogElul series, I conscripted the ones still hanging around and indeed got that storage locker cleaned out (refund coming my way, yippee!). We've been spending evenings several times a week, working our way through dusty boxes, sifting through books and papers and photos and memories from early days, college days, first jobs, babies. And also older items, things from two dads whose passing last year left us more than sad, and whose keepsakes we are seeing differently now.
When change is upon us, what do we keep, and what do we let go? Will my son jettison his past along with his formerly favorite t-shirts? Will I forget more if I let go of some of the memorabilia? And if we let something go, are we letting someone go to?
I'm glad we had our boys this summer to help us with this chore, to witness the rediscovery of a little of our past, and theirs too. We've come home dusty and tired tonight, trying to feel ready to move on to next stages.
