Northern Michigan University

Funny how after you have been married for a long time, two people start thinking exactly the same thing at exactly the same time. As we were heading way up north with James in the backseat on an exceedingly long stretch of desolate yet beautiful road, I started thinking about how far away our boy would be from us and how seldom we will see him once he is at school. I knew that if I opened my mouth to speak my thoughts the tears would flow! At exactly that time, Brian spoke the same thoughts I had.

Kathryn isn't coming home this summer and James is moving to Marquette in the fall. It's hard not to be excited for them both - after all this is all really cool stuff. Brian and I are at that point - the one that seemed a hundred years from now just 17 years ago.

"The rituals seemed to stop, like all the other natural endings - such as the last time one of the boys crawled into bed with us, or I carried them on my hip, or saw them naked, even. Such moments evaporate so quietly that you don't realize it's the last time until long afterward."

"Last year my son asked for my Christmas list over the phone. I promptly responded by saying 'A tape of you singing holiday music.' He laughed at my request, but it was my real desire, to hear his voice as smooth as maple syrup, the sound more soothing for me that an aria by the Three Tenors." excerpts from A Year by the Sea, Joan Anderson.