Break is over

I drove our son back to college yesterday. We talked about and listened to music most of the drive there. The round trip took seven hours instead of the typical four. I felt lucky to make it to Charlottesville and back without being involved in an accident. The highway was littered with crashes.

We had a fun and relaxing week, all four of us together in the house again. We watched F1 together, and World Cup matches. We watched a few movies — Taxi Driver, Nope, Marcel the Shell with Shoes On, Blade Runner — all of them great in different ways. We feasted on Thanksgiving day.

After Thanksgiving was over and before the pie plate was even empty, I made a flourless chocolate torte to celebrate our son’s 19th birthday. We won’t see him on his actual birthday; he’ll be back at school. We also wouldn’t have seen him soon enough to decorate for Christmas together unless we did it while he was here for break. It was about two weeks earlier than we’d normally do it, but we drove out to the Christmas tree farm on Saturday, cut an eight foot fir, and decorated it Saturday night while eating torte for his birthday.

This was the longest amount of time we’ve had him home since he left for college, and I loved having him back in the house. When I went to bed at night and woke in the morning, I felt a sense of peace knowing our daughter was safe in her room and our son safe in his, and we were all together again. Though I adore having him at our house, when I dropped him back off in Charlottesville yesterday, I felt easy about it. It’s a joy having him with us, but I’m also happy to see how much he loves his life at UVA. When he left in August, it was time for him to leave our home and build a new one in a new town for himself. He was ready.

Today it’s back to work for me and my husband, and back to school for the kids. We’ve got two weeks until our son’s finals are over, and then we get him back for a whole month. We’re staying put for the holidays so the kids can hang out with friends and we can just live our lives together for a few weeks without any pressure to go anywhere or do anything.