Friday, August 17, 2007

Back To The Empty Nest

Yesterday was a long and enjoyable day with a bittersweet ending. My wife and I helped our son move to Indianapolis to begin his studies for the priesthood. He will be attending Marian College. It is a small college and I was very impressed with the ease of registration, book buying, getting ID cards, etc. When we arrived their in mid morning, they even had coffee and donuts waiting for us. Later, they fed us lunch! I find the choice of Marian College ironic because it is a small Franciscan college. The building where Nick will be living is called St Francis Hall. There was another building called Duns Scotus Hall. When I was a little younger than Nick I, too, attended a Franciscan college called Duns Scotus College. Much of my spiritual formation was in a Franciscan environment and now my son is in a similar environment. Eventually, we got all the work of starting a new school year completed so we moved all his stuff into his new living quarters. Admittedly, Nick's new living arrangement is not as cozy as Mom and Dad's house but soon enough it will be his home away from home and his new classmates will be like a family. When I look back on my years as a seminarian, they were happy years. Some day Nick will look back on these years and think the same. The day finally came to and end and we hugged Nick good-bye. His mother cried a few tears but I am confident Nick is where he is supposed to be and that God will take care of him. I am happy about what he is doing but I will miss him.The drive home was pleasant and uneventful. Indianapolis was experiencing a cold front with moderate temperatures in the low 90's. As we approached Louisville the temperature gauge rose. The official temperature was 105 degrees. Thankfully, about the time the Louisville Skyline appeared in the distance, it began to rain. It didn't last long but later in the evening we had a great storm that gave my part of town a couple of inches of rain. Unfortunately, it also knocked out the power for a while. It was nice, however, to open my window, sit in my chair, smell the rain, watch the lightening, and feel the air cooling down.

It was very foggy when I drove into work this morning. My mind feels a bit foggy today as well. At least it's Friday. Unfortunately, Fridays often seem very long since many of my co-workers leave early. I look forward to my alarm clock having the day off tomorrow.

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