Glasses, some empty, some partially filled with water, so many glasses…strewn around the house.  A glass in the living room, a couple in the family room, errant ones in the bedrooms upstairs, on their desks. In the basement, in the washrooms. On the coffee table, on the side tables.  On the kitchen table, on the counter. On the dining room table. All parked as evidence of minutes spent in each space.

“Whose glasses are these?  These kids grrrr ”…hubby would say.  And then plunk the offending glassware into the dishwasher.

They used to be plastic cups.  We donated the plastics a while ago after the kids outgrew them. They settled into teenhood and graduated to breakables.

We became a household without teenagers just days ago.  Twenty years whipped by in a flash.

As I get up from the family room couch to pour myself another cup of coffee, I realize how many times I’ve heard, “Hey Mom, while you’re up will you get me some water?” 

And as a mother does, I’ve responded, “Sure, sweetie.”

We are taking the firstborn to the airport this morning – in two cars as he has that much luggage.  He’s starting a new life thousands of kilometres away.

I will be driving the baby of the family back to school tomorrow – in one car, packed with necessities for the next term.  Not as far away as her brother. Not as permanently, but away nonetheless.

Exciting times for both of them, I know.

Come Monday, I know a part of me will long to see a random glass.