alexander leaves for five days

“Today is the happiest day of my life,” Alexander announces on Friday.  My hockey team (of third graders) is undefeated.  We won again today.”  I m stunned by this declaration, then relieved when he tells me he is joking about the happiest day part.  But Alexander does like his camp counselor job.  Today, he leaves for five days as a sleep-away counselor at his day camp.  

Yesterday I suggest Alexander pack.  “Don’t worry; I have a list.  It won’t take me long.” 

This morning he wakes me before 7.  Usually he demands that I stay in my room until he’s out the door at 7:45, but this morning he needs my help.  “Where’s my sleeping bag?”  The sleeping bag he told me last night he wouldn’t need.  “I was wrong.  Where is it?”  Buried deep in a closet behind a million things.

Next, “I’ll also need a pillow.”  I then have to find a pillow he can leave at camp.  I don’t want any bugs of any kind transported into my house from the rustic sleeping conditions he’ll no doubt endure.

Then, “I need a flashlight.  Where do we keep those?” 

And finally, “Where’s a small bottle of shampoo?  Mine’s too big to take.”  "Just take the big one," I suggest.  "Never mind.  I don't really need shampoo.  it's only a few days.  I'll just use water." Miraculously and thankfully I find a travel size bottle.

We have a small apartment. Alexander knows where his clothes are.  He knows where the food is.  And everything else is a mystery to him.  Honestly, you'd think he was a guest just visiting.

I’m wide-awake when my phone rings at 7:15.  It’s M.  My royalty-obsessed friend.  “Are you watching?  Kate’s in labor.”

An hour after leaving Alexander calls.  "Hey, please take my earbuds out of the pocket of the shorts I wore last night.  I don't want you to wash them by accident when you do the laundry." Funny how he knows exactly where those are.