Spring in the South

We don't really have spring in Hong Kong. It is green and dry in the winter, and green and wet in the summer. The leaves in HK don't change to brilliant oranges and yellows to eventually reveal stark limbs. The leaves don't have the chance to die in such beautiful colors only to come back fresh and strong. 

I miss the distinct seasons.

When we got to the US in early April it was beautiful to see the trees changing from their starkness to the fresh new greenery of the early spring season. As we drove from Atlanta to Alabama back to Georgia and on to North Carolina, we paid a bit closer attention to the trees in the higher elevations still waiting for their color while the trees in the lowlands were in full bloom. 

When we are away from things or people for long periods of time. we are better at noticing the little things and being thankful for those little things. We don't notice the time we don't get with those we miss and love; instead, we absorb the time before us without wasting a second. This was never more poignant than this very short trip home when we lost our sweet Aunt Ann.

When Forrest graduated I wasn't really sad like many parents around me. And, that felt strange. I felt guilty. But, I was thrilled for him. He had such great plans for his gap year. When he was in Laos for the first third of his gap year, he was geographically close and I seemed to feel that closeness. When he went to Alabama to study at Legacy, he was 8000 miles away, and I seemed to feel that, as well. This is when I started to feel the pangs of graduation. 

And, when I saw him at Legacy, I was in tears. But, I still didn't notice the time I was missing with him. I was content with the few days. I wanted to absorb the time with him and not waste my thoughts on what we didn't have.

But, this is easy around Forrest. He doesn't waste time with people. When you are around him, he is fully engaged, so you walk away filled to the brim. He does this to everyone.

It's because he is so engaged in people and so engaged in life that we didn't exactly have the time to do university tours in the year before he was applying to uni. He applied to schools all over the US, but taking time out of his busy schedule to visit those schools was just impossible. So, we relied on the wonderful photos on school websites, and we relied on the local university reps in Hong Kong.

Then, we relied on his adventurous grandmother to take him to visit this school he accepted sight unseen. He had a few days between Legacy and the start of his final leg in the gap year at JH Ranch in California, so they flew to DC and made the rounds.