His stay feels like we blinked and it's already coming to an end. I'm tamping down the constant lump in my throat today and am sure there will be (much) more of the same tomorrow.
He is spending tonight at Atlantis with his friend R. who drove from California to spend some time with his friend. B. also lunched in South Lake Tahoe with a California friend who has a job that discourages hanging out in crowded places (Covid guidance) so that was a quick visit but nice. It's so great to see your adult son hanging out with his adult friends - both of whom are married but still make time to spend time with B. . It warmed my heart, truly. Childhood friends that stay friends.
On Wednesday, we did a surf & turf extravaganza - steaks expertly cooked by B. with broiled lobster and roasted asparagus. We enjoyed the food and the company and polished off a bottle of Rombauer Merlot (which may be my new favorite wine). We broached sensitive subjects and talked through things because as the oldest, it will be B. who handles things in the far off future of not having his parents on this planet anymore. (Absolutely, positively planning to hang around for decades but...life is short and uncertain). The conversations were a bit hard on all of us - but we made it through and we feel better to have had some discussions which needed to be had.
On Thursday, we pondered what to have for dinner and decided to do In & Out - B.'s favorite. He and I drove there together in some pretty heavy snow fall - and on the way, he said 'Mom, those kind of things that are way in the future - I'll file it away in my brain but I won't think about it much'. I'm glad he does that because it's hard to think all the time about your parents mortality.
He loves the house and did a couple hikes up the hills behind us - all the way to the very top - and says on his next visit, he wants to go further South and climb some of the other big hills in town. He loves being outside in nature and loves where we live now because there's always so much to do and see. We love that, too. This week's views also included a hawk sitting on the golf course for hours - J. looked and realized he was guarding his kill - a rabbit. Poor rabbit. Circle of life, etc..
J. and I stayed at Atlantis with B. last night - we did a steakhouse dinner that was (as always) extraordinary. We happened to be there on a drawing night and I won $500 CASH!! Woot woot!! We played into the night - J. and B. at Blackjack and me at Dragonlink. I'd lost quite a bit when I first got there trying out a Dragonlink they put upstairs near the sushi bar - there were no machines available downstairs when I arrived - but when I came downstairs, I sat at Peacock Princess and on my third spin hit a $742 Major! Woot Woot! It was the start of a very fun day.
We came home today - had decided earlier in the week to cancel our room for tonight - B. will hang out with his friend and we're glad to be home. We will go to Reno early tomorrow for a 9:30 brunch at the buffet - then R. will head back to California and we will get B. to the airport.
He has three weeks of leave still left and hopes to do a trip to Thailand in the summer - and I'm secretly hoping maybe he'll stop here for a few days at some point - we'll see. And of course, we'd love to go visit him in Tennessee and as soon as we're both vaccinated for Covid and feel more confident about flying, we will arrange a visit. We need to also spend time with H. in Texas.
J. got his 2nd vaccination and had a few days of feeling 'off' with mild flu symptoms. Chills and aches (no fever) and a pretty bad rash around the injection site. He's feeling much better now and is officially done with both vaccinations. My turn soon, we hope.
It's been wonderful having B. here and he's a pretty stellar 30 year old human. We are so very proud of him - there are few words to describe how much we love him and miss him. I'm reminding myself what he said when we were dropping him off form his basic training graduation - 'Mom, it's hard on me, too'. I can't get too overwhelmed 'cuz it's hard on a guy to see his Mom sad....and it's hard for him to say goodbye, too. Goodbyes suck.
We are going to make sure it isn't another 16 months between visits.
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