Pavlov's Mom

If you took any kind of psych classes in high school or college, you know all about Pavlov's dog.

In 1927, Ivan Pavlov experimented with his dog on the subject of psychological training – specifically conditional stimuli and response. He found that when he rang a bell each time before he fed his dog, the dog no longer salivated in response to the food, but to the bell. So a conditional response is when you're trained to respond to something such as Pavlov's bell, as opposed to using simply your reflexes.

For me, my conditional response this summer was going to the nearest office window when I heard the sound of a lawnmower, usually on Mondays. That was the day Carter's landscaping company visited my workplace to mow grass, trim hedges and whack weeds. If I timed a walk break just right, I could see him.

Or I could hover by the window like a stalker and watch him on the big mower below.

I only got away with that once before he spotted me. I guess kids have Mom Radar like moms have eyes in the back of our head.

Today when I heard my "bell," I didn't jump up and go to the window. But it did prompt me to text College Boy and tell him I missed him. How can there only have been 2 weeks of school so far? Seems much longer.

A friend – and new empty-nester – asked me today if year 2 gets any easier. I said it does because we know what to expect... few trips home when they are far away and a general lack of texts and phone calls (unless money is needed, of course). It doesn't mean I like it any better than year 1, it just means we parents (well, mostly moms, I bet) have tempered our expectations.

What's different this year is that he isn't just a kid transitioning to adulthood. He's like a fellow adult now who shared occasional good conversations with me this summer. I miss that. And those countless hugs goodnight when he was sleeping under our roof for 3 months.

OK. Stop talking about that. Now I'll get a lump in my throat.

Why didn't Pavlov's dog tell me this was so ruff?