Thursday Nights

Many of you may have read my heartfelt and delightful (TM) post about my brother D and his trek off to school. What you may not know is that since then, he has come home every single weekend. I would mock him mercilessly for not being able to stay away from home for more than four days straight, except that when he comes home on Thursday (an event that I amazingly always find an excuse to hang around for) it's like welcoming home a long lost relative that's been gone for months.

We crowd around and we ask about school and the roommates and what he's eating and who he's hanging out with and where he's going. His current favorite show is Top Gear and he doesn't have cable, so he dials up Monday's episode on mom's DVR and we all sit around and watch it while D backs it up to watch the good parts over and over again.

Someone will say they are hungry and D will say that he can't stand to get back in the car and we all settle back, content to let him direct after such a *long* absence.

Through the rest of the weekend, it's like he never left. Sunday, when he comes to church with us and dinner afterward, we (and by we, I mean I) may get a little weepy, knowing that soon after he's gone again, but for the most part, he wanders around doing D things: working on his car, eating Ramen noodles, leaving a mess behind him.

But Thursday nights - Oh, Thursday nights. The girls run outside to meet the car, led by D's girlfriend, the fabulous Morgan. The rest of us sit up a little straighter, talk a little quieter and wait for him to make it in the door, typically carrying one or both of my children with Morgan on his arm. It's like watching a war hero return, except he's only been at school for four days.

We are probably a little pathetic. I mean, really, four days, people. But, I don't want to spend any Thursday night in the next two years any differently. I'm sure that at some point he'll stop coming home every weekend. That's how these things happen. He'll get a job or an apartment or the car will break down (ha!) but for right now, I'm going to enjoy these nights to the fullest.

And also, celebrate the fact that Supernatural moved to Fridays, because that really would tear at me.