I’ve been back from vacation and back into a normal routine for a week now. My son leaves on Saturday for his last year of college, and the summer is literally running away from me. Labor Day, my least favorite holiday, is right around the corner, and the end of my beloved summer is around the next corner right after that.
Only this summer is less than beloved, I’m sorry to say. 2026 is taking the life right out of me, and even summer hasn’t made things better.
OK, that’s not quite true. Summer has made things a little better. I’ve been able to swim four or five times a week this summer, and the water has been exceptionally nice - warm and clear and exactly just right. The 30-minute stretches of time when I’m in the pool are pretty much perfect.
It’s hard to pinpoint what’s not so great, other than all of this (gesturing wildly at everything). I keep getting sick, and I can’t stop worrying about the state of the world, and I spend far too much money. Right now, I’m about to check my credit card bill to see exactly how much I need to hand over to Visa, and it’s going to be at least $5,000. Travel accounts for a good part of that - but not all of it. I need to stop buying stuff. I need to stop even thinking about buying stuff.
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I was right! My bill was $4,999 and change. As terrible as that sounds, I was actually relieved that it wasn’t more and that I had kept an accurate mental reckoning of my spending. I feel less out of control now. I’m broke until next week of course, but not out of control.
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It’s 2:30 on Friday afternoon on a workday, a time when I should be working and not writing, but my computer is installing a very long series of updates. I’m hoping that the updates will resolve a persistent latency issue that’s driving me crazy. I need the computer to keep up with me. I need to see the words appear on the screen the moment I type them, and not 45 seconds later. My Chromebook is fine right now, but it’s had similar lag issues in recent weeks. I blame AI. I mean, I blame AI for everything, but AI uses a lot of computing power and a lot of bandwidth, and it’s not unlikely that AI is clogging the digital pipes and slowing down my computers. That is my story. I intend to stick to it.
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The updates finally finished just before 3 o’clock, leaving me enough time to finish something that I really wanted to finish before the end of the day. And I guess the computer was running normally after the update because I don’t remember that it wasn’t. Anyway, it’s Saturday morning, and we’re taking my son back to school today.
Now that he’s a senior, this is a much easier task, both physically and psychologically. He’s had the same roommates since he was a freshman, but the group is splitting up this year, taking advantage of the senior single room privilege. My son is 21 now and he’s never had a room to himself at home or at school so he’s excited about having some private space.
And he’s much more cavalier about packing and preparing than he usually is. I don’t think he’s really packed anything other than his clothes at this point. He’s going to just take what he needs for the next week or so, and then come home and pick up the rest later. Without roommates to disturb, he can move everything in gradually.
My son hasn’t been home for most of the summer so it’s not quite the separation that it has been in previous years. But I still hate seeing him leave home, and because the other boys have already moved in, I won’t get to see their families today, either. But we do have swim season to look forward to.
The room turned out to be a basic, old-school dorm room with wood-framed windows, white walls, and a linoleum floor. But it’s large for a single, with an absolutely huge closet; and it gets really nice afternoon light thanks to the two large sunny windows. It’s his first space all to himself, and he seemed very happy with it. We helped him unpack and organize and rearrange some furniture, and I made his bed. We shopped for a few supplies, and then ate absolutely delicious noodles at an Asian fusion restaurant in Arlington. We got home at 8 PM, and I was exhausted. But it was kind of a lovely day.
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The house always seems empty and sad after he leaves for school, so I kept busy. My house and my car are clean now, and the refrigerator is stocked, and I have kind of an idea for what to make for dinner this week. The bills are paid and the laundry is done. I’m ready for the second-to-last week of summer. Well, I’m ready for a week - I’m never ready for it to be the end of summer. But thanks to a late Labor Day, we get what feels like an extra week this year. 2026 taketh away - all the time - but it giveth a little, too.
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