On Monday, I put the Monkey Prince and the Middle Monkey on a big ole' jet plane bound for South Korea. Middle Monkey spends some of his summer vacation visiting with his parents there, and this year, the Princeling went with him for a two-week visit. It's a graduation present from Kong and me. We all thought it was a great present. Afterall, travel is education, especially when one gets to go to a place so very different from what one is used to. For the Princeling, it's even more valuable. He's living with the Middle One's family for two weeks, so he gets to really live in the culture. Add to it that the Princeling has a great interest in ancient Asian history, and you have one happy Princeling.
So that leaves me wth just one of the three monkeys at home. To add to the equation (or do I subtract?), the day after the Princeline returns, he leaves for his job at a summer camp, where he'll live for the rest of the summer. I have only the Baby Monkey here, and he's loving his time as an "only child". Only, he's not only.
On the very day after the Monkey Prince and the Middle One left for Korea, there were six teenagers in my house. I surveyed the situation in my family room which was crammed full of teenagers, one of whom was the Princeling's girlfriend. They were consuming all the soda and snacks left from the Princeling's graduation party while alternately playing video games and watching "Pirates of the Caribbean". It was noisy. It was messy. It was fun.
The mother of one of the extra children stopped by to pick up her son. At the door she smiled and asked, "Are you enjoying having an only child?" I just led her to the family room. We even sat down amidst the chaos and had a conversation.
I'm not sure how the math works here. I sent two of my kids away for an entire summer, but I still ended up with more than I started with. I think I might call the guys at M.I.T. to ask if they're doing research on this particular mathematical equation.
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