Amazing What Imprints a Memory

Four years ago, or was it five---we were researching sending our middle son to the local college. We had had the fun experience of our oldest son being accepted and attending a college three hours away. But, we had a perfectly good college right here in town. To save money, and enjoy this son as long as he'd let us, we hoped he would choose the local university.

Middle son also graduated early from high school, and his actual graduation service was held at the university because it was the biggest venew centrally located for all the early grads from the local high schools. And we were familiar with the campus from all city boys choir concerts and high school band competitions.

When we first met with the early entrance lady at the college, her office was in the same building as ROTC and we watched men and women in their physical training outfit---ARMY t-shirt, and shiny black trunks also emblazzened with ARMY--run by to class. It imprinted on me as something we might see a lot in the future. But, now after four years of ROTC, our middle son rarely wears this physical training uniform to class except in April. He wears it for the PT test and swim test. This morning, he also had a test, so he wore it to the test in chemistry.

Seeing him take off in his Army t-shirt and shorts took me back to when we were registering him for college, and looking at our options. And now we are about to see him graduate. For four years I have washed and folded his uniforms, and jeans and t-shirts, dress pants and dress shirts. And in one month, his laundry will no longer be mixed with ours. The end of an era.