Nesting (College Version)

You are here with me
You are here with me
You have been here and you are everything

Before my baby came into my life, seemingly seconds ago, an instinct kicked in - nesting. It’s a sort of panic. This new person was on his way and there was so much to do and not enough time. I scurried around town, around the internet, finding the best of everything for his space. The right furniture, the right bedding, the clothes, the toys. Everything I knew was necessary to make baby feel at home.

My husband and I prepared our home so it was perfect for this perfect little stranger. We more or less succeeded. He’ll probably never know the care that went into making his space just right. But he’ll feel it. I think he knows.

Over the years, the house grew with this tiny person who became a toddler, then a school kid, and now a teenager. Looking around the house, there is evidence of every stage. His drawings, clay pots, baby pictures, marks on the ceiling from that ball that bounced higher than we thought it would. Our house used to be furnished by Fisher Price, now it’s this mishmash of souvenirs from all our years together. Turn your head and see another memory.

Flash forward in what seems like a blink. He was our baby, and now he’s nineteen. He’s a freshman in college. He left this home, the only one he really remembers - having lived here since he was a first-grader. He left this place in August when we all travelled up north to take him a thousand miles away to his school.

The space that has been fully his for more than a decade felt so empty when he went away, flew the nest. But this empty nest is about to fill up again. I started feeling it in October. The college kid is coming home and I need everything to be PERFECT!

Friends ask me if I’m excited for Jake to come home in December. Um, understatement! That panic came back. Not only am I already making a list of every favorite meal, favorite snack, favorite root beer to have on hand when he arrives - I’m in full nesting mode. It’s happening again!

I’m not just ready for him to come home - I’m ready for him to come home to the best version of home. Home 2.0.

Yes, I cleaned his room (it was fine) and bathroom (it was not fine) literally from ceiling to floor. I touched up the paint in his bedroom, his bathroom, the hall leading to both. I went into an organization mode that would rival many a Netflix series. Why were there so many expired toiletries? Who would need this many orthodontic rubber bands? We’ll never know, but baby, they’re gone.

So now it’s just days until our boy comes home for a long holiday break. I know he’ll need to rest. He’s earned this downtime. And I’m so happy that he’ll have a comfortable place to land.

Eleven days and counting...