A Life Lesson

So, it’s been a few days since last I’ve written. I would love to say that the pause was due to writer’s block, but I would have to be a writer in order to be afflicted with that condition. I would also love to say that the delay was the result of an overwhelmingly busy lifestyle that left no time for writing. That is absolutely not the case as I do nothing. Truthfully, though my life is never without fodder for this blog, I was waiting for the perfect subject and, boy oh boy, did I find it! Yesterday, I received an email from my son, Patrick, announcing a reunion of Athletic Training students from his undergraduate Alma Mater. It is scheduled for a weekend in July, and invited the former students to bring their families, as well. Wow, I thought! This is great! We can spend the weekend with both children as our daughter, Nina, is a student at the same university now and lives there year round. After all, we paid for that amazing education and, through many previous events, have gotten to know the teaching staff and several of the former students. How good it would be to see them again. I immediately went into travel planning mode: 1. Told my husband to put it on his calendar and to block out the weekend. 2. Made sure our daughter would be in town for the weekend. 3. Booked the kennel for our two dogs. 4. Reserved a hotel room for my husband and me, as the two kids would be staying at my daughter’s apartment for some quality sibling time. In other words, within 20 minutes the trip was arranged and a good time would be had by all…. …until Patrick called later in the afternoon. I told him how excited I was and how much fun it was going to be to see his former classmates and teachers. I went on and on and on…until I heard dead silence on the other end. “Mom”, he said, “the invitation didn’t mean ‘that’ family. It meant the family that I could potentially have at age 27. A wife…kids…Mom, are you there? Are you okay?” OMG, I had stopped breathing!! How could this be? “Family” no longer meant me! I felt as though I had been run over by a truck and stomped by a herd of elephants, afterward. My chest was exploding…BREATHE, Kim, BREATHE!! It had finally happened. I knew that someday it would; but I was totally unprepared for it to happen now. I had become background material in a life that I had created. I know you are laughing at my stupidity, or maybe even shaking your head in disbelief that my ego could be so large as to believe the invitation included me, his MOTHER!! I would, however, appreciate a bit of sympathy as I enter this new chapter of my life. And, I still have one “child” left!! Peace out!!