Changes

We said goodbye to Jonathan earlier this week. After nine years of learning French, he is off to Paris for three weeks for an exchange program. Lucky boy.

I felt a little sad at the airport. I travel a lot on my own. Tim travels a lot on his own. But this is the first time Jonathan has been gone on his own. It's like a preview of being empty-nesters. We've forgotten what it is like to be only two and not three.

The report from him so far: Day one he took an hour long walk around the Eiffel tower. And he sent photos. And he wrote, "Jealous much?"

Tim wrote back: "We did chores. Jealous?

Jonathan has also decided to attend a new school: a science magnet school near my work. That means we'll be commuting together in the mornings. I envision mornings spent in deep conversation as we walk hand in hand to the train station, where we smile and laugh as we find train seats near all his school friends. Because that's how it works with teenagers in high school, right? Actually, I'm just hoping that he won't ask me to please walk 10 steps behind, so no one knows we know each other. Because high school. Things change.

And with the change in school, we've been asking ourselves whether we are ready to buy a house rather than rent. If Jonathan and I are both commuting to the same place, perhaps we could move there, and shorten that commute some. So Tim and I looked online, and picked out a few places that looked nice a little closer to my work, and wrote down the times of their open houses this afternoon.

And then we went to exactly one open house, in the building in which we currently live.

It's a nice place here, where we already live.

I honestly don't mind my commute: the walk through the park, the train ride, the shuttle bus to campus.

And just think how nice it will be next year, when my sweet teenager shares it with me, bonding the entire way every morning.