Fledging

Tomorrow morning early Zed and I set out for Middletown CT, the van stuffed with his stuff. My 1993 Grand Voyager may be bigger than the dorm room we're heading towards; I may return with a considerable volume of rejected cubic feet.

This seems a symmetrical end to a venture begun in November of 1983, when, very pregnant, I left for the hospital with an empty baby seat strapped into my tiny green Honda Civic. It seemed so preposterous and presumptuous to have procured this seat - yet, undeniably, I was nine months pregnant and had reason to believe a baby was on the way. And, indeed, when I left for home, there WAS a baby (little Melina, who is now a honking big girl who can blog for me while I'm on the road!) in that seat.

Twenty-two years later, I leave for Wesleyan with my other child, Zed, in the passenger seat. When I say goodbye and turn towards home, his seat will be empty.

A mom I know once told me that her son, impatient to evade her attentions on the day he was delivered to college, whispered to her, "DING! Your child is done!" as he disappeared into a flock of freshmen.

I'll take a few days on the way home, not in any hurry to return to the empty house. Along the way I'll visit Melina in her new NYC digs.

In the mean time, she's promised to fill you in on her post-Jackson adventures. Stay tuned.

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