tales of woe

ok, so the tales of woe are everywhere i turn these days...bidden or unbidden......stories of homesick college freshman......descriptions of just how pitiable co-workers children seemed as the parents drove away......or how distressed that the sunday school friend was when she drove her youngest child to school.....and just how many times a montessori friend of my middle child called home the first day (4).....and how her father cried on the way home when he heard her favorite song....i learned even as i walked into church yesterday how a sunday school aquaintance's child came home from u.k. three times the first week of school, and how he is home right now for the weekend, and talking about not going back......and all of these stories crowd into my consciousness......attempting to squeeze out the disbelief that we will soon drive our own child to school....impossible as he was just born yesterday...or so it seems if i close my eyes and focus......and the reality of just how far away he will be living for the foreseeable future.......with no set plans for coming home except for christmas break.....we were so spoiled with having the eldest just up the road......within an hour's drive if the need to assure ourselves that he was safe and sound became audible....like poe's beating heart.....a parent's worries take on a life of their own.....i wonder if any crafty person has attempted to paint or sculpt that wretched feeling of separation......or record it in so many soundbytes.......as for this countdown week....so many days, so many hours, so many sighs til we leave/arrive/driveaway......so many more stories ........