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Son number three moved out a couple of weeks ago…
He has inhabited the converted (large) fourth bedroom for years.

Secretly I’ve been coveting that space for a very long time…
I don’t think anyone knew it though, because I am really good at hiding these kinds of emotions…
A year or two ago I might have mentioned my plans for that room some-day…
I may have said something along the lines of ‘When Jared moves out someday, don’t any of you get any ideas about that room because its MINE!’

Okay, so I guess that might have clued a few of the gang in…
But I swear, that half the time no one listens to me anyway, so perhaps not…

There comes a time in every young mans life when he needs to spread his wings and fly to new horizons…
In this case, it is a house that he is renting with two buddies a couple of miles from here…

He seems to still be basking in the glory of his newfound adult life…
I’m sure that will keep him feeling all warm and fuzzy…

That is, until the utility bills start coming in.
Maybe then he will finally grasp the concept of why we have wailed and gnashed our teeth over the length of the showers that he always enjoyed here… while WE were paying the electric and water bills…

By this time next month, he’ll probably be taking army showers…
You know the kind –

Water on and get wet…
Water off…
Soap up…
Water back on and rinse…
Water off…

These will begin once he gets a load of the fact that long showers may cost him money that could take away from funds spent on “fun stuff”…

Like food…

My husband tried to comfort me with a few words… ‘He’ll be back’

Those words only fueled my fire.
I knew that I needed to kick it into gear and hurry to try and fix up that space, so it would no longer even remotely resemble a bedroom …
I was now on a personal mission to convert his old room into what I like to call My family room/den!

Our boy stopped by a few days after he had officially moved out, to pick up the rest of his things that he had left behind, only to find me getting ready to paint…
’What the heck?!’ was all he could say…
I told him that I would have been doing it even if he hadn’t moved out… and I think he believed me…

One day…

That’s all it took me to transform that space into a wonderful new space…
I painted, hung pictures, spread an area rug out and rearranged the room complete with love seat and the entertainment center that he left behind…

I was so proud of myself and so was my husband…
I don’t think he knew how much I could get done in a single day…
Which I now realize could make me look bad when I experience an “off” day, and don’t get very much accomplished!

In the meantime, we have a new room in which we can thoroughly enjoy ourselves and our son has his own abode.

These days, you might find me out there, just sitting with a grin on my face…

I’m enjoying every moment of it, because I realize that down the road, all that wing spreading could prove to be too much for my little bird, and he may flutter home one day…

Our flock always makes room for one of it’s own…

So I hope son number four, won’t mind having a roommate…

Because My family room/den is OFF LIMITS!