One and Done Empty Nesters

My one-and-only came home for her first visit!  I got a chuckle out of the stereotypical large bag of laundry she brought with her. She didn't ask me to do her wash, but I happily volunteered (I draw the line at folding, however).     It was nice to hear her footsteps in the house again. I was reminded how late she sleeps (wake up and play with me!) Still, we got lots of quality time. The three of us worked on a puzzle for a while until we all got frustrated. My husband looked forward to watching her school's football game with her - but she went to her boyfriend/not-boyfriend's house to watch it instead (she didn't realize Dad wanted to watch the game with her, and he didn't tell her). But she came home during the fourth quarter and we all enjoyed watching them win, together. As we worked on the aforementioned puzzle, my husband played Camila Cabella's song First Man on Spotify. In the song, she tells her father he is the first man who loved her. We've lis

           Image by DreamersNight   We feel like we have a ghost living with us. OK, it's only been three weeks since we dropped our one-and-only child, Mia, off for her freshman year of college. But I still find myself quickly turning off my alarm clock in the morning so it doesn't wake her up, or expecting her to burst through the door talking to me loudly at full speed without noticing that I'm on a work call. I also find myself wondering whether she is going to like the dinner I'm fixing tonight (probably not). My husband, Mark, watches out for her car when he's backing out of the driveway, forgetting it's not there, and has caught himself looking for her in her room.  We both expect to be awakened in the middle of the night when she very loudly gets up to go to the bathroom. I hope she has learned to be quieter for her roommates. In other words, the ghost of our daughter is still living with us. That idea of dropping off our kid at college and dancing aroun