17 days!

My brother Mike left for his Freshman year at Florida State on Saturday. My brother Nick left for his Junior year at UF on Sunday. Grant left for his last semester at FGCU yesterday. The house is much quieter now, less the fights over who gets to move into Mike’s room while he is away at school.

I miss Grant so much already. Yesterday he dropped me off at the gym on his way to Fort Myers. I worked out, trying not to think about the empty home I’d return to. I made dinner for myself and cleaned the house a bit. I watched our favorite TV shows without him. I went to be comforted by one of Grant’s shirts that he left folded under my pillow with the scent of his cologne.

The next few months will be difficult, a continuous countdown until I get to see him again. Right now it is at 17 days. Sometimes I think about how sad it will be not seeing him each day, but then I feel awful for feeling so down. He is just going to school. He is not being sent overseas to fight in a war. He is not being sent to a hospital to get treatments for a life-threatening disease. We can make it through the next four months and enjoy our visits, phone calls and emails.

Through all of this I am reminded of how lucky I am to have such a wonderful, loving and caring husband and such a healthy relationship.