Sometimes we just have to lean into the pain and emptiness of loss.

Each time Justin (our son) comes home, his life depicts the "moving forward and away from us" actions.

Every parent who has lovingly taken care of their child(ren) feels the angst of this separation.

You so want them to survive, do well, and thrive.

You wish them the very best life has to offer.

You absorb the silences, where once there was the familiar door slam, the nocturnal door squeak, and even the last portion of a pint of Haagen Dazs Coffee Ice Cream.

So tonight... I blog about loss.

Reckoning life's past, and even hoping for tomorrow . . . well, we're all doing it to some degree.

Tomorrow, I won't wax philosophic. I'm taking our son to LAX and if all goes well according to plans, he will return to Asheville, NC for two weeks.

From there, he has engagements in Atlantic City and Carnegie Hall to provide sound checking for Sergio Mendes. After these venues, he will go to Europe.

The "North Sea Jazz Festival" is some kind of venue where hundreds of thousands of Euro-fans who love jazz and such, come to appreciate the sounds of big-time artists.

Somewhere in Scripture, there is a passage about our children not being our own, but gifts to engift others.

Likely, we are letting go the gift of our son as he enters into relationships that are substantive.

He has a particular tolerance for friends who are weak and undetermined. In this day and age, it's difficult to find anyone who cares the way he cares.