Someone is Missing

I was thinking the other day as I looked at a photo from Easter... there were 3 almost grown men standing there staring back at me. My first thought was, how handsome and grown and different they all looked. And then, how did we get here? And also, someone is missing.

It's a strange thing to have adult and almost adult kids. There are lots of reasons it's strange, but for the purpose of this rambling, I'll keep it to why it's strange on holidays. There are places in your life where your kids just are. They are there, they are constant, they belong there. Holidays. Those are places that no matter what, they're supposed to be there. It doesn't matter if they are babies, pre-teens, college kids or adults. When you take that photo in front of the Christmas tree they are supposed to be there in their coordinating sweaters with smiling faces.

You don't really think about it when they are little. You start to think about it some as they grow older and you realize they will be headed to college. You know that while they won't be there in your everyday, they'll be back for Thanksgiving. They'll come home for Christmas, Easter too, and then the semester is over and you get them back for the summer. Maybe they'll intern or something, but certainly they're home for 4th of July and family vacation before they head back to school.

And then it happens. One day you take a photo in front of the church on Easter Sunday and instead of four smiling faces you only see three. Someone is completely grown up now. He's moved across the country, has a career and is married. But he's missing and it hurts.

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