Empty nesting: a view into the future

I mentioned yesterday how Ottawacker Jr. had not been too downcast at losing 2-1 to the TFC Academy team. The reason had several components. First, his teachers had a “PD day” today (Professional Development – read “staff party”); second, he had been invited (along with Lucas) out to one of his friend’s cottage in Wakefield, QC; third, he was going from Wakefield to Lucas’s for a sleep over. It’s fair to say the boy was excited.

So excited, in fact, that despite not going to bed till the ungodly hour of 9.30, he was up at 5. As his bedroom is next to ours, the wooden floors often betray the slightest movement – and when the movement is more than the slightest (say, for example, an 11-year-old boy pulling draws out to find his swimming costume, then the noise is enough to wake the dead. Having been cajoled back into his bed for a few more hours, he acquiesced. I, however, was awake. By the time he left, at 9.30, I was on my fourth coffee.

I’d like to say the day was a success. It was, for him, in any case; for Mrs Ottawacker and I, it involved work – and then the realization, at 4, that he wasn’t coming home. So, we both did some more work. And then had dinner, and then went for a drive into the depths of South Ottawa. And that is what happens when you reach our age.