The House Is Really Quiet

The house is really quiet now.

No clink of spoon and bowl as the boy eats his cereal huddled over a book at the dining room table. No interminable showering in the morning. No boy-dog tussles. No garage door rumble as he gets his bike out and rides off. No "yoo-hoo" as he comes home at the end of the day.

The house is really quiet, and his Mexico project trip is only half-way done.

They posted a midterm update for his bunch of kids in Michoacan today — something we were looking forward to even though it doesn't have much information. Evidently it's been rainy there. I imagine him walking along a street in a downpour. I wonder if he packed a raincoat.

I imagine him walking in the rain along that street with a smile on his face and his curly locks hanging flat against his forehead. I doubt the rain is bothering him. Still, I wonder what he's thinking, where he's going.

He'll come back a different person.

So in a way, my job is pretty much done. His thoughts and walks are his own. And even though there are only three weeks before he comes home, I realize that the quiet is really just beginning.

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