We packed Son of Mr. Bali Hai off to college yesterday. He'll be renting a tiny room from a very spry 80-year old man for the next 2 years while he works on an Associates degree in Meteorology. After that, hopefully he'll transfer to a 4-year university to complete his Bachelors. Any misgivings that I had about his landlord were assuaged when I saw that he had a vintage tiki mug resting on the television set. I took that as a sign from the gods that all would be well.

Son and I spent several hours cleaning out his room this weekend in preparation for his departure, and we shared a lot of laughs and fond reminiscences over the various objects from his childhood that we found. He's not very far away, and I know that he'll be back home frequently, but damn, I miss him already.

Excuse me, I'm a little verklempt.