"There's moisture in my madness. I should start keeping my insanity in Tupperware containers." - Jarod Kintz
I swear I've purchased a couple hundred food storage containers in the last eight years. When Jacob was away at school I often cooked large batches of his favorite foods to keep his freezer stocked between visits. I prepare meals several times a week for my sister Nancy and I still often cook to stock Jacob's fridge now that he has moved into his own place. I am always begging him and my sister to return my containers for reuse. It is crazy to keep buying them. Jacob is pretty good about returning my glass containers as well as my freezer bags and coolers. Nancy sometimes remembers to give them back but as often as not, I get just a bottom or just a top so I now have a cupboard full of mismatched food containers but not a single usable combination. That was my frustration yesterday when I was trying to pack up the meals I made for Jacob to greet him at the airport as he arrived home from another adventure.
For the best part of two weeks, Jacob and a friend have been exploring Germany. I'm really happy for him that he is doing some traveling. I believe travel is essential to gaining a real understanding of the world. I know he has more adventures planned for next year to some destinations in the Orient. And while I think it is wonderful, I also wonder if I will ever learn to sleep when he is away. Jacob and his friends are sane and sensible people but the world feels like a dangerous place these days. While he checked in a couple of times, I couldn't get him to do it with the regularity I would have liked so I settled for stalking him on Facebook to see if he had been on-line. My son is not a user of social media but he will use Facebook Messenger as a vehicle to communicate when he is away. Relief for me did not always come from a message home but from seeing that he had been on the app at some point that day.
Like a child I found myself counting the sleeps until his return. I grocery shopped to stock his cupboards and cooked and baked all morning to stock his fridge. I tracked his flight in real time on a flight tracker website and waited for him at the airport anxiously, peering through the glass intently to catch a glimpse of him at the luggage carousel. Finally he arrived, looking tired but happy. It was all I could do not to run to greet him squealing all the way.
We dropped him and his friend downtown and headed home. Our time together was short and filled with stories of where he went and what he saw. He promised more details and a long visit next weekend. I wish I didn't have to wait so long but I'm okay with it. I heard his voice, hugged him and saw him with my own eyes. Last night I slept like a stone.
No comments:
Post a Comment