Snapshots of a Modest Life

The Move

Tonight is a momentous occasion. I've gone through this three times already, and hopefully this will be my last. My brother, however, is doing it for the first time, the move from home to dorm.

It is strange to know that when I go home for the weekends he won't always be here. Sometimes I'll pick him up on my way home, swing through Gainesville, fight the traffic on Archer and spend the next two hours catching up, or maybe sleeping.

We're already planning our first weekend home. Labor Day weekend. The first long weekend of the school year, as well as the weekend of my 21st birthday.

Weird. That's all I can say. The weirdest thing is, it won't effect me that much. I've already been out of the house for three years, and him not being home on the weekends really isn't that odd. He was always busy, or asleep, or I was asleep.

I think about my parents, coming home tomorrow night to an empty nest, their youngest child off to college for this first time. It'll be quiet around the house. The little bro and I are always making noise. Banging out poor improvisations to "Heart and Soul" on the piano, the sound reverberating of the wood floors. Having tickle fights in which I'm squealing and him laughing at me. Stereos playing Jamie Cullum and Metallica (his, not mine). Quiet.

We're leaving at the crack of dawn tomorrow, and I'm not done packing. I've done it so many times that I basically know what needs to go. I'll be back in two weeks anyway, so it's really not that big of a deal if I forget something. Anyway, enough of being philosophical, back to packing.