Youngest Son shows up, takes keys, leaves dishes

Youngest Son has returned to the Curmudgeon home, arriving late yesterday afternoon. We thought he was to be driven by a baseball teammate who had to pass through Chicago anyway on his way to points elsewhere but, in the event, he was chauffeured by one of his high school classmates who lives near us. He decided to drive up into Wisconsin, fetch Youngest Son, and bring him back.

"Why?" I asked, when the kid came in the house to get a glass of water.

"I was bored," he said.

"How long have you been home?" I asked.

"A week."

"So your folks are already sick of you."

"Pretty much," he admitted.

I'm not one of those who sniffles and pouts about the "empty nest." I'm happy when the kids go, happy to see them when they come back -- and increasingly anxious, and well nigh desperate, to see the collegians go by the end of Christmas Break.

With two kids home, one will take my chair, one will take the couch and both will fight over what to put on the TV. Neither will wish to watch anything I want. Both will stay up far later than normal people. Much of the time they will wake me up when they stumble up the stairs. They'll leave lights on behind them. They'll sleep past noon.

And, yes, I am jealous.

It will be fun for a couple of days -- catching up -- hearing the few stories they think safe to share, talking about the classes they've taken and the classes they're planning to take. Youngest Son is going to pledge a fraternity next semester. He used to be a mix of Irish and Cuban -- now he'll be a Greek, too. Over Thanksgiving, after Youngest Son informed us of this decision (we'd never had a kid pledge a frat or sorority, although Long Suffering Spouse was Chaplain of her sorority, back in the day, and my son-in-law Hank was active in his frat) I went online and pulled this out:



Yes, Youngest Son plans to pledge Sigma Chi. Long Suffering Spouse looked at me with mixed wonder and consternation. "How do know stuff like this? More importantly, why?"

There's no good answer.

Our future pledge seems happy enough in college, so far. He says his offseason baseball conditioning is proceeding well, and to the satisfaction of his coaches, and he claims to have done well in his classes.

To those of you who don't yet have kids in college: Unlike grammar school and high school, you don't actually see the kids' report cards in college. Privacy concerns, you know. The schools are very sensitive about that. On the other hand, they seem to overcome these delicate feelings to make sure you see the tuition bills.

But I digress. Youngest Son dropped his dirty laundry in the living room, plopped on the couch, and went to sleep. His mother woke him to feed him. He ate. He insisted we put on a movie. He dozed.

Then his cell phone went off. And then he took the van keys and headed out.

I had to pick up his dinner dish last night after he left. This morning, when I started the van, I turned off the country station he'd left blasting on the radio, and removed the glass he'd left behind.

I'm happy to have him home. Really. But I can see where I'll get over it pretty darn soon.