BLTs at 8:45.  This is really not a good idea.  It almost impossible to reconcile myself to the thought that this is it.  Summer is really over.  Tomorrow morning I have children in my room.  Tomorrow night I take my daughter back to college.  The boys will leave by the weekend and my still bewildering role as empty nester will resume.

The deck door stands open still, the swing and the flowers tugging at me to spend my evening there.  The dishwasher hums and the crickets chirp and the laughter of teasing siblings and telephone chatter punctuate the joy of a summer night. 

I should be organizing my first day outfit, planning for a quick breakfast and a take along lunch.  I should be a bundle of nerves about my new students and all I need to accomplish in preparing them for the year.

I'm glad for once I'm not.  I rest in the joy of this one last night of summer, of frozen pizza, frying bacon, and the roasted squash of the healthy one.