Stories Collected While Living in France

French la Vie

Growing up Baby

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When your child goes off to university your house grows quieter. You ache at night when you set the table and there is one less place…  staring at the empty space it fills with memories of left over yesterdays leaving you hungry for more.

How did that little girl grow up so fast?

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When your child goes off to university and comes home for a visit, she will bake a thousand cookies. You will taste her new ideas and savor her new experiences, wanting to hear more…

…until she unloads all her dirty laundry, piles and piles of it upon your floor.

Oh darling I love you but I do not miss the loads of laundry. I wonder if there is a Laundromat near the school?

photos: My Godmother’s doll..

Comments

36 responses to “Growing up Baby”

  1. elsa

    welcome home to chelsea! i feel your aching in her absence, i really am not looking forward to that when it happens to me. enjoy having her home, and the the wonder and amazment of her ever blooming self. please share cookie recipes-would love to have new ones. i tried the chestnut soup it was a huge hit. i know i owe you an email, it’s coming soon!
    have a wonderful day!

    Reply
  2. Linda

    It must be genetic for college children to bring their dirty clothes home on visits. All three of mine did it-more convenient and they don’t have to use their time or money at a laundramat.

    Reply
  3. Marie-Noëlle

    Father Christmas may have Lavotomatic tokens in his basket… Try and phone him !?!
    A sock full of L. tokens… A girl’s dream ??? (sending you a video….)

    Reply
  4. Kit

    I’m aching for your empty place at the table.
    The silver lining of the dirty laundry is that she does come home often enough to bring it…! I didn’t used to take mine home to be washed but then I only went home at the end of the term, so had to discover the laundromat perforce!

    Reply
  5. meredith

    This makes me want to go hug my girls!

    Reply
  6. Freefalling

    Ha Ha
    Too many clothes – I think that is the problem! If she had fewer clothes she would be forced to wash more frequently. Maybe you could short change her clean pile of laundry (she’d probably notice, right?)

    Reply
  7. Jeanne

    All too well I know the feelings
    only mine are across the world…………..
    It is never the same when your home is an empty nest.
    I love you
    Love Jeanne ^j^

    Reply
  8. Shannon

    There is something about a college student’s dirty clothes……
    One year, I came home from college for Christmas break and put a load in the dryer before I went to bed.
    Early in the morning, on Christmas Eve, before it became light, the laundry room was engulfed in flames. My clothes ignited because there was a malfunction in the dryer.
    My mom called the fire department and they put out the fire before it could spread to the rest of the house. But it burned up everything in the room.
    A fire is one way to get rid of a college student’s laundry although something tells me you wouldn’t want to try that technique.

    Reply
  9. Ellen Cassilly

    Welcome home Chelsea. I hope that the world is opening up to you in so many lovely ways.
    The laundromatte video was very cute. Have you seen the Mom Song done to the William Tell overturere on utube? It is things a mom says over 24 hours sung in 3 minutes.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxT5NwQUtVM

    Reply
  10. tut-tut

    But Mom does it so much better than anyone else! Don’t you feel appreciated?

    Reply
  11. Beverly

    I hope this means Chelsea is home for a visit.
    We have five days of Steven right now!
    And since he always catches a ride home with a friend, he is too embarressed to bring any dirty laundry in the car! We are free!

    Reply
  12. My Melange

    Corey…
    Ah yes..that age old proverb…*Home is where you do your laundry*.

    Reply
  13. Pauline

    ah – the empty nest syndrome. How I missed my children as one by one they left home. They are all far-flung now and I STILL miss them. (Even their laundry!)

    Reply
  14. rochambeau

    Dear Corey,
    The things you write about is one reason I’m glad I don’t have children! I’m a wimp. It would have wrecked me.
    I’m sorry for this phase for you, But it WILL start to feel more normal, and you will feel better!! All of these new phases in life!! You get used to one, the the rug gets pulled out and we have to learn anew!
    I wish I knew my Moms secret. She is such a different type that me. I’ve told you this before, but she was actually gleeful when I left for collage and I’m not kidding!!!
    Somehow that allowed me to move on, the fact that she moved on.

    Reply
  15. phyllis

    I knew a guy at college who went home the summer after his freshman year and told his mom he still had the same bottle of Tide that he bought upon entering in the fall…
    He thought it was concentrated and that only a capful was needed for a full load 🙂
    Little caps back then, not the cup-sized ones of today!

    Reply
  16. Cheryl

    Corey, I feel your heartache. My oldest son moved to Missouri (from California)a couple of weeks ago to be near his girlfriend and her family. I miss him, and admire his courage to strike out to a different state on his own. Cheryl

    Reply
  17. Paula

    And the next thing you know, she will bring home a young man and you’ll be setting an extra place at the table. Then one day there will be a high chair and a sweet little toddler…..and your heart will be fuller than you ever dreamed.

    Reply
  18. Pinkie Denise

    Oh, my Zachary came home with a car load of dirty clothes,says he doesn’t have time to go
    to the laundromat. Thank goodness Heidi has a
    washer and dryer in her apartment. We love them so much though, it is just good to have him home for the Thanksgiving break. Have a wonderful visit with her and hugs and kisses to you all. Pinkie Denise

    Reply
  19. Gillian

    I think you secretly love the laundry. You will find something sacred in performing the task I am sure, that the rest of us take for granted.
    Hmm?
    xo
    Gillian

    Reply
  20. shannon in oregon

    I promise you there is a laundromat by school, but it is not home. She will continue to bring laundry home while at University. And trust me, you will miss it when she does not. 🙂 At least that is what my mother told me…

    Reply
  21. Mary

    Don’t be sad………….eventually they all come back, dragging boy/girl friends, husbands/wives, babies with their cots, high chairs, playpens etc., but at least you won’t have to launder diapers – they have disposables now, yippee!
    Happy Thanksgiving Corey – I’m thankful I have you to inspire me each day.

    Reply
  22. karen cole

    After I’ve been away for awhile and come back here I page down and become instantly enthralled in your fantastic images.
    I want to do it all!!!! ….but not your daughters laundry. My own daughter, 25, has moved back in for grad school…..though she is doing her own laundry.

    Reply
  23. Travelingmama

    I went and hugged both of my kids. I’m already dreading them growing up!

    Reply
  24. Ulla

    Corey – I hope Chelsea doesn’t run into French-Ray! Remember: ‘Distance makes the heart grow fonder…’ Laundry or no laundry… Blessings to you and yours this Thanksgiving!!!

    Reply
  25. nicol

    A full home and a full heart and full laundry hampers… at our house as well! xox N

    Reply
  26. heather

    that video was hilarious! no wonder guys don’t get any homework done. . .

    Reply
  27. Lea

    I know… I can’t wait to see Orin in December… and then after a few days when the dirty socks start to pile, the combination of sandwiches and their makings find there way everywhere… I have to sigh and breathe in the emptiness and the fullness and love that I am blessed with the tension of both…

    Reply
  28. Frieda

    I have another 6 years to experience what you are going through.However, I have same feeling when he goes away for a 3 day camp, that silence is so loud!

    Reply
  29. Rosemary

    Corey,
    You hit that nail right on the head!!
    That’s what happened at our house, word for word.
    We love them and their dirty laundry.
    Rosemary

    Reply
  30. marita

    oh this laundry piles, large bags are dropped here during weekends and holidays. don’t remind me!!
    you will get used to it corey in the coming years ;))
    however, chelsea will always come home… with or without laundry, back to the treasures of her youth!!

    Reply
  31. susanna

    Hee! Well, this little post/letter made me smile today. Hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving this week, Corey. Will you be celebrating the American holiday in the South of France?

    Reply
  32. A Fanciful Twist

    Hahahaaa… So adorable…. And all the stinky laundry loves you washing it for certain!!! hee heee

    Reply
  33. Elaine L.

    The Youtube was great!
    At least your daughter isn’t too far away.
    If you really get lonely for her you can pop in the car (or airplane) and have a visit.
    It is a huge transition, tho. It seems like they grow up so fast and we get old too soon.
    ~elaine~

    Reply
  34. Betty C.

    I’m not quite to that point yet, but it must be a huge change in a household.

    Reply
  35. cruststation

    That’s a wonderful doll! I’m sure the laundry thing is all part of being a mother, and having Chelsea home will more than make up for it :)-love the Laundromat clip.

    Reply
  36. tlchang

    I’m glad you got a visit for the holiday?weekend?… I’m trying very hard not to think too closely on how soon my oldest is leaving (it’s in months now, rather than years… sniff).

    Reply

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