y little brother moved into his first apartment. My mom was so worried that he will starve to death because she won’t be cooking for him every day. To remedy this, she donated a bunch of dishes, pots, pans, and cooking utensils to him. I hadn’t had a chance to visit him until recently and was shocked (sarcasm) to see that he hadn’t whipped up lasagna and cracker fluff yet.

A few months after Kevin & I got engaged, I moved back to Iowa (I had been living in Columbus, Ohio). Our dating relationship had started very shortly before I moved away and so most of our relationship had been over the phone or email with some weekend flights here and there to visit.

I remember one of the things I had most looked forward to most about being in the same time zone as him was the idea of making meals together in the evening. I don’t know why that little thing had been so appealing to me except for that fact that it was so normal for most people and we hadn’t been able to have that. I really wanted normal.

Kevin lived with 2 other guys in a college apartment in downtown Iowa City. Their kitchen was…shall we say…not up to my cooking standards. They did have a few pots and pans, I’ll give them that. I remember going to the grocery store together and buying the easiest boxed recipes we could find that would require the least amount of dishes and cleanup. Things like macaroni & cheese, hamburger helper, and spaghetti. (So we ate a lot of pasta, okay?)

It wasn’t glamorous and neither was our dining experience on the couch, but–and there is a but–we were together, doing something normal, eating dinner together like most couples get to do. That in itself was a beautiful thing.

So what if my brother eats ramen noodle soup for awhile? Part of Kevin & my new normal was to be together…on a week night…doing nothing important…just grocery shopping and making dinner. Part of my little brother’s new normal is the experience of being on his own. It’s not easy starting out, but it’s part of growing up. And your very first apartment? Remember how freakishly awesome it was?!?

Still, I told him he can come join us for dinner any time he wants. We get to do normal things like that now.