I'm so sad.

I just gave Darrell my last hug for at least a year -- and that's if I can swing a trip to Korea next summer, if not it the last hug for at least two years. OMG! Why are those things so hard? He's a dad-gum 36 year old grown man and I'm acting like he's a 7-year old on his way to camp for a week and will be away from Mommy. They are on their way back to Kansas and will be flying out of St. Louis on the 14th for Korea. They have to get his truck sold and their camper stored between now and then and of course do all the crazy stuff you have to do when you leave the country for two years with 3 children.
We had a wonderful visit even though I had to escape for a while yesterday and go hide in the yard for a while just to get away from all the chaos going on. We met my sister and her son, Will, (who wasn't able to come to the party on Sunday) last night at a Japanese restaurant for supper. The kids loved it and we all laughed and talked about all the trouble Darrell, Marti, Gina, and Will used to get into when they were little. We laughed about the one summer Will came to stay with us on the farm and he, Darrell, and Roger spent days and days toting (a southern term for carrying) irrigation pipe for the tobacco and corn fields. When Will got back home from that visit, he vowed he would NEVER come back for the summer -- and he never did! Poor little city kid came to the country and almost didn't survive. Now, he's the greens superintendent at several fancy-smancy Reynolds golf courses at Lake Oconee and he spends his days toting pipe. HaHa! Darrell got a big laugh out of that! I have cooked more in the last week than I have in the last 6 months and my back door has been opened and slammed more than it has been in the last year. I have washed clothes and picked up Power Rangers and X-men and crayons and said, "Quit chasing the dad-gum dogs in the house" at least a million times.
OK, now I need to get up off my feeling-sorry-for-myself-butt and get busy doing something besides thinking about the fact that my little boy is gone. I think I'll go stamp! But, before I do, I need to go wash one more load of towels and I may just go slam the back door a few more times just for good measure. And, I might just go dirty up a dozen more plates and a few dozen more glasses and I might even chase the dogs up and down the hall. And, I'm most definitely going to go open a few more bags of chips and leave them on the coffee table for the dogs to get into.
Hang in there with me, gals. I am sad, sad, sad. (Darrell & Denise -- if you are reading this, I LOVED our visit and I already miss y'all.)