Where Are You Going?

I went to close the bedroom door to Buddy's room at my in-laws this week, and I was thrown back in time.

Instead of seeing my goofy son smiling at me through the rails of his crib, I saw the two armchairs that Steve used to have set up in that room, facing a TV that had Nintendo 64 hooked up to it. That was 11 years ago this summer. It was in that room that we escaped from the rest of the household, where he first sang "Where Are You Going?" by Dave Matthews to me, and where it became our song.

When I went to tuck Rosie into her bed in her room at my in-laws, I looked around at the familiar furniture and shapes and thought about how this used to be my room when I spent the night, and how I always felt right at home.

A rerun of the Colbert Report was on and it immediately made me think of the fall of 2005, the year we graduated college, when we used to spend several nights in a row at each other's house. We watched that first episode together eight years ago, both exhausted after our first few weeks at our first real jobs out of college.

I had forgotten how peaceful it is here. Right now I hear nothing but crickets chirping. At home, I'd be hearing cars. Home. We've been away over two weeks. It's our last night here in Worthington, and while it's been challenging at times (the beagle getting loose, car troubles, tired kids), it's been a fun ride.

I've enjoyed glimpsing our past and making new memories that I'm sure we'll talk about for a long time to come.