esrosedotblog

TIC TIC TIC

I woke at 2:30 this morning. Family was to arrive in Boston about that time; red-eye from Long Beach; the good JetBlue.

It was a pleasure to see that their plane arrived on time and OK. I knew they were on it because they called before they boarded.

We have a syndrome around here called The Prom Night Effect. It is an old reflexive, parental imperative.

When my kids were teeners, there was always some horror show in town on prom night. Some kids would wipe out on a curve; others would get into trouble of some kind.

So, while I never much bothered to worry while they drove cars by themselves or walked across highways or played team sports, I always worried on prom night. Or any night when I knew they would be travelling.

It was the knowing that was the problem. The special occasion of it. It's gotta be primal. Look, they even made a horror flick about it; Jamie Lee Curtis level.

This 'tic' continues today. I could go months not worrying about anyone but get a line in an email or a comment on the phone when there is special travel, a marathon bike ride, a long drive, I count the minutes until they will be back.

Need I say that 'the kids' are now phasing into their mid forties.

So I was up at 2:30 checking it out. The plane arrived a little early; before I got up.

Now, I will inch them down the expressway and home until I get a phone call that they arrived safely. After that we can all go about our business and I will not have a prom night experience for quite awhile; until the next 'kid' calls to say they are driving somewhere more than the normal commute or doing a high risk activity like kayaking or anything else off the beaten everyday track.

Part of bein' a parent.