The Boys Are Back In Town!

My boys came home from sleep away camp on Sunday. They were away for 7 weeks. We saw them once on visiting day in July and there were weekly phone calls from my younger one, occasional letters from the older one (actually, we were questioning whether he went to that camp at all because he hardly appeared in the pictures on the internet and barely called. The very rare letter that appeared in our mailbox from him assured us that he was there.)

When you have a 14 year old boy, you have to worry about the "embarrassment factor". Do you hug and kiss him in public? Do you wait for him to come to you? How do you suppress the urge to squeeze him to death even though he's 4" taller than you? These questions ran through my mind as I walked towards him with DS#2. They were on separate buses and this kid yelled out "Mom" and ran into my arms. Thank God. Well, the problem was solved. DS#1 came over and we hugged tightly. I even got a kiss on the cheek! The bottom line was that I think he wanted a mom hug.

Since the buses let the kids off near one of our favorite restaurants, we decided to have a quick lunch there. I have 2 boys; they're always hungry. It was a good neutral place for them to start to decompress. What more did we need at that moment than good food, good company and good conversation (done totally by the boys!) We then headed home and all I knew was that I had to start doing some laundry before their duffel bags arrived. They were expected by Wednesday.

While they were gone, their bedrooms were cleaned, their bathroom was spotless, everything was in its place. We told the boys that they would be expected to keep it that way. Please, why did we bother? In less than 2 hours, DS#1, the place I have referred to as hell, was not as pristine as I had left it that morning. I should have taken a picture. But, I will give him until the end of this week to start getting it together. He had to make up for loss computer and cell phone time.

Now DS#2 had a more difficult time switching from camp mode to home mode. That first night all he did was ask what time it was and upon finding out, he would announce what he would be doing if he was in camp. I offered to play games with him but it wasn't what he wanted. I then asked if he wanted to ride his scooter while I went for a walk. That he agreed to do. I figured I would walk towards one of his friends house and hopefully they would be out and he could hook up. It worked! Except I didn't finish my walk and he came back in 20 minutes because he was tired.

Well, it is so nice to hear their voices, whether they are fooling around or arguing with each other, around the house. The evenings were difficult for me because of the quietness of the house. Their duffel bags arrived on Tuesday, to my dismay, (I thought I would have one more day of no laundry) so after countless loads, the laundry is done. I plan on packing all the linens and towels away in a big plastic container to make my life easier for next year. My food bill has doubled in one week! (God bless their hungry little bellies and damn those growth spurts!)

I just want you all to know that the song by Thin Lizzie, "The Boys are Back in Town" was playing in my head while I wrote this.

What does this have to do with my knitting? Well, I haven't had much time to knit! My boys are back!