So having just gotten back from visiting my boys at sleep away camp. I am sitting at my desk and rethinking the day. I had not seen them in just three weeks and already they have grown. I’m not sure if physically but certainly they appear older, they act older. Some new phrases and words have slipped into their vocabulary. They have made new friends that I only met for the first time. They have inside jokes that are even more inside than the ones they shared with their friends at home. They have dates for the banquet and I have to beg for them to point out their girlfriends. I sit and wonder what that term — girlfriend — means at their age. I think back to my childhood to the age they’re at now and try to remember my first girlfriend. It’s an exciting time for them. They are on their own making theri own decisions and fending for themselves. Out in the world (a small mini world at that) without parents telling them what to do.

After lunch towards the end of visiting day, we sat for a while on the grass overlooking the lake. We laid back and stared up at the sky and my boys rested their heads on my chest. They allowed me to put my arms around them. We talked and they told me all the fun stuff they had been doing, the sports, the soccer goals and home runs, all the cool adventures and I even managed to get a little bit about the girlfriends. It was a magical moment and for just that little while, holding them close to me, I felt like they hadn’t grown up all that much after all and they were still my little boys.