Sending Boy Wonder to college

I am eating the freshest bag of Sour Patch Kids candy ever.  I mean, they are soft!  Sour at first pierce, then bursting with fruitiness, and sweet as their satisfying texture yields under tongue and tooth.  I purchased them at the Family Dollar here in Brookings, South Dakota, a town I hadn’t thought of twice prior to Boy Wonder deciding to attend school here.

From the looks of the store it’s hard to tell if they move much candy or not.  That’s how you gauge freshness, of course.

The two girls in front, dressed in frumpy red polos, were deep in conversation when I arrived to ask.

I heard the freckled girl say, “I know!  I was like, ‘well, I’m glad they get along!’  I just wasn’t expecting them to drink like fish together!”  They both laughed and it made me wonder who she was talking about.  Her divorced parents?  Two old boyfriends? I almost asked but stopped myself, instead curious if they sell lots of candy.

The plump one looked at me, puzzled.  ”Average I guess.”  It didn’t sound promising.  She twisted her lips in an unattractive grimace.

So finding the freshest bag of my life: surprising.

Even more surprising, a lightning-bolt-thought came to me while trying to solve the dilemma where to sleep tonight. I didn’t know until about 5:00 my ride wasn’t going back til the next day and all the hotels in town answered “booked full” when I called.

I don’t know where the lightning-bolt-thought came from.  (I like God.  I figure He deserves a little credit.  I’m good with that.  I’m no genius all by myself.)

“Check the diviest joint in town.  They probably have room.”  And of course they did.  The guy answering smoker-coughed into the phone and said “we don’t really take reservations.  It’s more first come, first served.”

Of course it is.  The joint is one you park at and enter from outside.  That’s why they call it a MO-tel, cuz you mo-tor up to it.

The attendant came from across the lot where he was smoking with a guy in jeans and a dirty white t-shirt.  A cluster of bikes fenced their gathering.  The attendant didn’t know the Wifi password by heart.  Of course they have air-condiitioning. Of course I’ll be safe here. He rolled his eyes and said, ”It’s Brookings.”  One of his blue eyes lagged behind the other.  His camouflage shirt was too big for him.  He lumbered off to get the Wifi password.

Weeds grow from cracks in the cement and pavement.  The outside staircase is steel.  My cush room along the balcony marked “no smoking” has an ash tray on the table. The door has a dead lock that reads “Open and Occupied”  depending on the position.

Yet, the room is surprising.   It has everything you need.  The AC is amazingly strong.  It even has a fridge and a microwave that makes me wish I’d thought of popcorn and an escape on the TV though I’m not sure i want an escape. I have big things on my mind; my baby boy is going to college. I actually want the mix of all these big feelings.

I made Garret take me to get the razors, Sour Kids, some chocolate, and a Diet Coke.  I’ll lock my door and be good with that.  After three hours of sleep last night (different post) and a four and a half hour drive down, I just want a bed and my little treats.  So you can imagine how it surprised me to discover I’d left them in Garret’s car.

He had walked me to my room, carried my bag past an open doorway where three or four men gathered around a television. More empty bottles than bodies rested on the hotel table.  Other bottles nestled in hand.  Outside, a white-haired man lounged, moving bare feet and bending to move his tennis shoes as we passed.  He shared a gappy smile and continued talking on a cell phone.

Both Garret and I were responsible for the Family Dollar bag staying on the car seat.

Imagine my surprise when Boy Wonder actually agreed to come back as I realized twenty minutes later I didn’t have it.  He brought Girlfriend and New Roommate.  They surveyed the place, immediately grateful for their nice dorm rooms.  They stayed just a few minutes.

Perhaps the nicest surprise of the day is how Boy Wonder let me hang just a little too long with my arms around his waist and my head up under his chin.  I realized before he did that I was snuggling him in front of a New Person. Even though he didn’t seem to mind one bit, I let him go.

They had fun planned and Garret has his first hall meeting at 9:35 sharp, but did you get that?  I let him go.

I’ll cry later.  I might bawl tomorrow.  And it all feels good.

Now that just might surprise me most of all.