See you in a little while…

Last October 16th I spent the day with Connor at Thousand Hills State Park. I had reserved a cabin the night before at the State Park, to spend a day off campus with him. He planned to stay at school over fall break, as he had papers to get done and sleep to catch up on. I arrived late evening after working in Kansas City. The traffic had been wild as it was the day the Royals won the honor of going to the World Series. At 9:30pm I arrived at his dorm. We went to Pagliai’s Pizza where we watched Cardinal baseball. We went to the cabin and sat outside with our earnest attempt at a bonfire. It was cold, but we stayed outside to see the stars. Connor insisted the stars were brighter in Kirksville than anywhere else. I had wittnessed a shooting star that very night as I drove into town.

In the morning, I asked him to recommend a good place for breakfast. He quickly informed me that Mongolian bar-b-que sounded good, with a smile. We both laughed as we ate an early lunch of BBQ. As we were being seated he noticed a woman he recognized. He immediately took me over and introduced her by name and as an employee in the cafeteria at Truman. We met her husband and talked about lunch. We shopped for new tennis shoes and went to a shop that made items for fraternities. He left sporting Pi Kappa Phi and I left with a lighter wallet. He got a military hair cut for ROTC. He informed me that he was planning to commit to the Army and continue the scholarship he had been offered. It was a big step and he was excited. He showed me his dog tags he had recently received.

Back at the park, we hiked in the woods, enjoyed the beautiful fall colors and talked. We discussed school and all that he hoped to accomplish his first year. He said he was having trouble with time management at school. There were so many cool things to do, he said he felt he never had enough time. We talked about priorities and ways to stay organized.

He told me he had won two gift certificates for the restaurant in the park and he was buying ME dinner! We enjoyed a table next to the window overlooking the lake at sunset. We had appetizers, dinner and of course, dessert. It was much later than I had planned to leave for home that night. I asked him if he would consider coming back for the weekend and I would gladly take him with me. He smiled and told me Thanksgiving would be here before we knew it. I drove him back to his dorm. It was 7:30pm.

I handed him his things he had brought to the park and his bag of goodies we had purchased that day. We hugged goodbye and I got in my van to leave. The parking lot was empty. Something inside my heart was having trouble leaving. I jumped back out of my van once more and ran around the back of it, where he stood. He smiled and dropped the things in his hands and gave me his big bear hug. I really didn’t want to leave him. As I slowly slid back into my van, I rolled down the window to wave goodbye. He lifted up his arms to the sky and yelled, “I love you Mama! I’ll see you soon!” Smiling, he waved goodbye, as I drove away.

How blessed I am to have these memories with my first born child. Years of memories were made in his lifetime, as I, had the time of my life. I’ll see you in a little while my son…love you forever! Mama