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The children are gone...
What do I do now? There is no one to make a grilled cheese for. No more apples to cut up and dip in peanut butter. Someone is probably making him a grilled cheese sandwich right now on a George Foreman grill in the dorm.
There will be no more quick loads of laundry to wash shirts that they "neeeeed for my date tonight". I'll probably only do about 3 loads a week now that she's not here, changing her clothes three times a day. Where are the onesies, the tshirts, the pajamas with feet? All gone.
What will I do with my afternoons? No more homework to help with. No timestables to drill. No papers to type the night before they're due.
And my weeknds... no soccer games, sitting in my chair-in-a-bag bundled up in a fleece sweatshirt. No basketball games at the gym with popcorn and sodas at halftime. No school concerts, no PTO meetings.
What will I do with all of my time? I mean... of course... what will WE do?
Who is this person I'm married to? I know he walks out every morning with an overstuffed briefcase, and appears late in the evening, to eat microwaved leftovers and fall asleep in front of the tv.
I have a plan.
In a few days I'll tell him, as he's walking out the door to work. Just before he gives me that half kiss.
Or maybe I won't.
Maybe I'll just go.
I'll leave a note. Or a phone message. Maybe I'll email him at work.
"The children are gone, and I don't know if you even notice me anymore. I've been saving the extra grocery money all of these years, and I have a little condo down south, on the beach. If you want to come along, be at the airport by 3."
I wonder if he'll come.
5 comments:
I wonder if he will. I wonder very much.
Great ... But now I think you have another story to write. :-)
I like the way it seems to be about the children at first but turns at the end to be about the parents.
I'm curious now about what happens to her when she goes, and whether he joins her. Very good.
Do you know...My mother is going through this kind of thing RIGHT NOW. Of course, it's four years AFTER college, but still...she's going to leave Daddy because he isn't THERE anymore. She'll have more fun on her own!
I liked this very much. It's just spot on for a lot of women.
This is supposed to be fiction, C!
I shall quote his Honor, JJ:
"You will write an anecdote or very short story beginning with the sentence below."
;-)
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