Home Again Home Again Jiggety Jig

Sonny boy was home for 5 days in between the end of summer school and the beginning of the new semester. The intense pleasure of knowing he's on his way and the defining moment he leaves are the hardest times in empty nest. My sizzling Mommy DNA goes crazy on both ends.
His first night home I made pizza. Hubby was out of town, so sonny boy and I stood in the kitchen hovering at the island, devouring Webber grilled red onion and tomato pizza. We shared a beer, and talked about how hard his biology class was. The next day we drove to visit relatives and he spotted some bird poop on my windshield and told me the chemical makeup of the stiffened white spot on the glass.
At my sister and brother in law's house, after my son asked my brother in law, "What exactly did you do at JPL?" they headed to the computer and talked all their engineering stuff. At one point we were lounging in the big bedroom, across the bed or in the lounger, and sonny boy told us the name of one of his classes. It's called Mass Transportation and both my bother in law and I said at exactly the same time, "Beam me up, Scotty." Personal Jinx!!!
When Hubby finally got home the next night, we settled on the couch, chatting. Sonny boy told us some of the aspects of his chemical engineering major. It has a lot to do with moving vast amounts of different kinds of liquids from one place to another. He casually said, "I've really been interested in fermentation." My first thought was yeast and beer. Hubby says, "As in yeast."
Sonny boy says, "As in beer." Apparently he found beer making equipment in the basement of the fraternity house and got real curious. He told us how he sells his beer and covers his costs. He explained the process, the types of beer, the chemicals he uses to sanitize the equipment, and where this all takes place. College is very educational. He's been making it over a year, but waited to tell us of his experimentations until he was of age (or almost). He thought we would make a bigger deal of it. "What did we do?" I asked. He said we just were laid back about it. Aren't I proud?
On the way to buy a new shirt and jeans, sonny boy asks out loud, "How do neurons create a picture in my brain even when I am not looking at something? So if I say Duck, I can see it?"
"Oh, the mind's eye," I say.
And while pulling into the parking lot, walking through the double glass doors and up the escalator, it was all speculation of how the brain works, what is the chemical makeup of memories, and what about blind people's memories and mind's eye? I miss those everyday conversations with my local brainiac.