Chapter 44 - A New Journey|
The long, highly emotional summer passed by in a beautiful, warm, deeply comforting blur. Before I completely knew it, it was finally time to successfully pack Leo's numerous heavy bags and firmly prepare for his massive, life-changing move across the country to Boston. His childhood bedroom was now heavily filled with sturdy cardboard boxes, carefully packed with complex electronics, thick engineering textbooks, and a few precious, deeply sentimental childhood items he absolutely refused to leave behind.
I stood quietly in the open doorway, silently watching him carefully fold a large stack of clean shirts. A sudden, deep pang of profound, heavy sadness quickly hit me, violently mixing with the immense, overwhelming pride I already felt.
"Do you strictly have all your important charging cables securely packed?" I asked softly, trying aggressively to keep my slightly shaking voice completely steady.
"I literally packed them three separate times, Mom," he laughed softly, securely taping the final, heavy box completely shut. "I'm an aspiring advanced engineer; I think I can successfully manage a few simple power cords."
He stood up, looking slowly around the empty, bare room.
"It definitely feels really weird leaving this quiet house," he admitted quietly, a sudden, rare vulnerability flashing quickly across his confident face. "It's always been perfectly safe here."
"This house will absolutely always be your safe home, Leo," I promised fiercely, stepping forward and pulling him into a massive, tight embrace. "But you are completely ready for this new adventure. You have a brilliant, beautiful mind and an incredibly kind, deeply compassionate heart. You are going to completely conquer MIT."
"I'm going to massively miss you, Mom," he whispered softly into my shoulder. "And I'm totally going to miss Buster awkwardly stealing my leftover pizza."
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"We will fiercely miss you too, sweetheart," I replied warmly, kissing his cheek gently. "But you boldly go build your amazing future. The massive tech empire and the global charity will be perfectly fine without your temporary technical assistance. I will aggressively call you every single Sunday, without fail."
He smiled brightly, picking up his heavy duffel bag. The absolute time had finally come for him to boldly step entirely out of my protective shadow and fiercely shine his own brilliant light on the vast world.
