When will he arrive?

Back when the kids were in college and they both came home to see us…

All you mamas and papas of grown children know how you feel when your young sprouts return to the childhood nest for a spell, don’t you?

You know how your heart sighs in joy, yes, a beloved son or daughter returns!  You scurry around the house, washing sheets, dusting cobwebs, thinking of favorite dishes to make.

You look at the clock.

You wonder:  where is he/she now?  What time will he/she arrive?  Or you wonder when you’ll leave for the airport.  You vacuum.  You anticipate.  Your eyes gleam.

He’ll be home soon!

Yes, dear reader, we await our eldest, a boy named Christopher (or Chris, as the rest of the world calls him).  He arrived in the fine state of Michigan last Wednesday, feeling the breezes of the Great Lakes from the Detroit airport.  His childhood buddy, Ryan, picked him up and took him Downtown and on Thursday (Mama has memorized his itinerary) they drove north, north, north all the way to the Mannistee National Forest for his very own bachelor party!

Chris and Seunghye

Click here if you missed the sentimental 30th birthday post Once upon a Christopher I wrote back in March which probably, yes, probably embarrassed the poor fellow to think his mama would carry on like this in public.  (But, then again, he’s the son of a newspaper columnist.  His father used to write about his bouts with the flu.  My blog is tame compared to that, right?)

Yes, our dear Christopher and Seunghye have invited friends and family to their wedding celebration in San Diego on October 6th, and now both of them have flown east from California for the weekend to Prepare for the Event.

Christopher and Seunghye

Seunghye is in New York City meeting with her maid of honor and our daughter, who is a bridesmaid.  Yesterday, the women shopped for bridesmaid dresses.  They lunched.  They had a very good time, as emails and phone calls revealed.

Chris is still in the forest of upper lower Michigan as of Monday morning. (We Michiganders like to divide our state into three parts:  1)  the urban lower and 2) the woodsy rural upper lower and 3) the wilderness of the Upper Peninsula where your blogger now types.)

Christopher is batching it with maybe six to eight friends.  The celebration includes camping, hiking and canoeing.  (Please do not trust my words.  I am only the very distant mom.  This is only what I THINK is happening.  And I’ve probably said too much, you know how it is, you other moms and dads.)

I wish I was a little bird perched over their campfire.  OK, OK, maybe it’s good that I will only hear the edited version of the exciting Bachelor Party.  We hope no canoes tipped, and if they tipped that everyone survived with only a minor dunking.  We hope everyone behaved, and if they didn’t behave that they all make it to work tomorrow.

Chris & Ryan on one of their many camping trips

My job (at least this is what I think my assignment is):  drive to Marquette tomorrow morning to pick up the soon-to-be-celebrated-groom.  We hope he’ll be able to hitch a ride back to the U.P. with one of his friends.

Christopher will stay with us until Saturday when he flies back west, west, west to San Diego to reunite with his soon-to-be-celebrated-bride and they’ll continue planning all the delicious details of the wedding itinerary.

Am so excited about this upcoming week with our boy (even though it’s the first week of school and I must put in a couple of appearances at work as well).

When’s the last time you’ve seen your grown-up children?  Or, if you’re a grown-up kid, when’s the last time you’ve seen your mom and dad?  (I saw mine back in June if you recall, when we all sang Camptown Ladies to help my dad celebrate his birthday.)

Here’s to families!  Let’s keep celebrating one another!