I've been effectively muted, at least until Thursday. Willem and I have talked on the phone every day, sometimes several times in a day. He has needed the chance to vent (he is staying with his mother, you understand), and talk about his friends and his golf game, and generally make contact. All of which is good, I'm all for it. But then it's my turn to talk... and I have done almost nothing in the past three days that I can tell him about.

I can't talk about how amazing S&W have been - S is a classmate of Willem's, and a friendship has developed from there. I can't talk about how fun it is to be making a new friend in G, and look how helpful she's been already.

I can't talk about the warm happy little glow I get just sitting on my couch staring into the kitchen, and how I'm fairly certain I'll actually break into a full-on butt-wiggling happy dance when the fridge is delivered. (And how I just hope I can wait until the delivery guys leave.)

And so on, and so forth. I've realized just how natural it has become, over the years, to talk to him about ev-er-y-thing, including - perhaps especially - the mundane little stuff that no one else wants to hear. And that I want to hear his random boring stuff, too.

So, yeah. The rest of you out there, especially those of you who are going to be seeing him this week, zip it. If I've been able to keep this secret, then you understand that you darn well better be able to, too.

He'll be home sometime Thursday afternoon. After then, feel free to ask him about the kitchen.