Life of Wry

It appears we have reached the end of this part… the living permanently at home part. Peter’ll be back, we know that, but never again in this incarnation–the kid under our watch and care.

Tomorrow’s road trip to La Jolla represents the final stages of the launch.

Here are some mostly unremarkable photos of typical domesticity from last night and tonight…you know.. some parting shots before the story completely changes…

Bent over Peter’s computer last night, looking at something Peter called Jim over to see.

Peter setting the table… (actually not all that typical):

Jim the ever-experimenting cook.. has gotten into the Instant Pot (a modern-day pressure cooker) … so dinner last night was a one-pot kale, onion and steak concoction that came out pretty good!

You’ll be pleased (or maybe appalled) to know I actually recorded some dinner conversation last night; I was particularly amused at the utter familiarity of it… like it’s always been: Peter and Jim talking about the speed of the expansion of the universe, the eleven dimensions of time and space… things like that. I weighed in on the subject by sharing a video I’d watched earlier in the day about the relative size of celestial objects (planets, stars, galaxies, universes… you know). I remarked, with total seriousness, that our infinitesimal size gives me great comfort. Counterintuitive, but suddenly the reality of being such a small part of something so scarily, unfathomably big, made me feel totally connected and unafraid. We chewed on that for awhile.

~~

And then, tonight… called Peter into dinner…  he’d been re-watching an old episode of Seinfeld…

THE LAST SUPPER–Peter’s last home cooked meal for awhile–was a special order: steak and mashed potatoes (with more of that kale/onion dish from last night, fresh pears and mangos, and peppermint stick ice cream and cookies for dessert): 

It was fantastic.

Conversation tonight was less metaphysical. Peter was actually willing to talk about UCSD and dorm stuff, who his roommates are, what the room arrangement might be, what we’ll all do for the four days Jim and I are down there, our respective upcoming orientations, and so on. He’d preferred not to talk about any of those things up until tonight.

We also toasted. It was a wee bit ceremonial.

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In true Peter fashion, at about 11:00pm, he began to pack the clothes he plans to take to college.. and finished about 45 minutes later. He filled a suitcase and asked, “what else should I bring?” To myself I mused, girls are not like this. We gathered a few things, but he’s not bringing much. It’s okay…. I’ll be down in another week with his mini-fridge, so if he changes his mind about a baseball glove, his Beats headphones, a guitar, maybe a picture or two… he can let me know then.

He is taking some dirty laundry. Good. He can practice his first solo load at school. (Don’t judge me.)

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Sabrina dropped by with a very nice goodbye note and a souvenir album full of photos she made just for Peter from our many, many get togethers and trips, most of which took place when Peter and Jocelyn were little kids. It was extremely sweet and Peter was genuinely touched; we spent about a half an hour looking through it and talking about old times. She is a special person, that Sabrina. After she left, Peter said with unexpected sentimentality, “let’s get together with them when I come home.”

When I come home.

Gulp.