Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Young man at large

I'll be brief here for now, just to check back in with my blog friends after the long holiday weekend.  Hopefully I will be able to do a better recap of the weekend and my food progress tomorrow.  It was a wonderful weekend.  I spent much of Friday just hanging out with our youngest, as planned, before he settled into full on preparation for his trip.  Many laughs, and even better...some serious conversation too.  And here I go getting misty eyed - again!

Thank you all for your kind comments after my last post about our son Mark leaving to go to the Republic of Georgia.  He actually left yesterday for this adventure, midst tears (mine), jokes (his, hubby's, brother's, and mine) and excitement.  He flew from Philly to JFK yesterday afternoon, and was going to be on a "red eye" flight from JFK to Istanbul at 9 p.m. last night.  It was to be a 10 hour flight, and Mark felt certain he wouldn't be able to sleep, given his very long legs and seating placement in the center of the tourist section.  Imagine his agency not purchasing Business Class tickets for these 20-somethings!  His biggest concern was hoping he wouldn't have to use the plane for the more solid aspect of human elimination, which cracked me up.  (I tried to make that sentence not too gross!)  Claustrophobe that I am, any kind of human elimination on a plane is unwelcome, but beyond a point, the body's gotta do what it's gotta do.  Or poo.  No pun intended.

Anyway - I'm not sure what time his flight from Istanbul to Tblisi, the capital of Georgia, was, but I'm thinking he's probably there by now.  Or not.   And that is what is so hard as a parent right now...not knowing where in the world is Mark Erickson!  Once we actually get an email and know he's on solid ground and been given a phone, it'll feel better, I think.  Right now it's as though he's out in the ether somewhere and I have no ability, in any way, to know anything about what's up.  Been through this with kids before and it'sreally not so bad.  Just strange, when you consider that you used to control at least some aspects of their experiences.  At least when they were babies!  HA!  As I learned in AA, any idea that I have control over anything but myself is pure illusion.  But the awareness of it right now just feels odd.

I'll check back in tomorrow and report on some good vegetarian dishes I made over the weekend to remind Mark what a nice place home is!!  In the meantime, starting a 4 day week beats the heck out of starting a 5 day one!


11 comments:

  1. I remember that feeling -and mine was only studying abroad.

    So my question is this? What do you attribute your childrens' desire to help/see the world?

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  2. I don't do that "check in" thing on Facebook, and I always kind of thought it was silly, but when my son travels (which is just about every week) I appreciate seeing his check ins - from the airport, to restaurants...it's just nice to have an idea where in the US he is. I can only imagine the feelings you have about your son and the WORLD! Hopefully he had an uneventful flight (his worry cracked me up - yeah, I totally get that one!) and is settling into his new life. Hang in there, mama - I know it's got to be tough.

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  3. So glad you had a chance to hang out with your son before he left. And it's OK to get misty-eyed too! It's a mother's prerogative to do so! It's hard to cut them loose, but...sigh...what else can we do?? BTW, I understand what he means about planes...they are nasty places in many respects, but we can't do without them in this modern age. Have a great week!

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  4. Glad it was a good time until it was time to say "until we meet again." What a wonderful, remarkable opportunity for him. Will be looking forward to updates and to your recipes!

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  5. Anonymous29 May, 2012

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  6. I'll be honest - I had no idea where that even was!

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  7. My heart hurts for you. These seperations are bittersweet. Will he be able to skype with you. When my daughter was in Spain for a year we found that skyping really helped, just seeing each other on screen helped with the sadness of being so far apart.

    Hang in there Leslie.

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  8. ahhhh and Im struggling with kindergarten ending.

    xoxo


    MizFit

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    1. LOL Carla! I did too..3 times. Little kids, little issues. Big kids, BIG issues! But all worth it.

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  9. Anonymous04 June, 2012

    I hope he made it safely! Since I am just starting on this empty nest journey, I am sure I will have the same fear/worry of not knowing what she's up to all the time - luckily, since I have a girl she talks/texts me all the time!

    Hugs!

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