Moved the Kids Out

I wasn't involved very much with today's project, which wrapped up our family's double-header nest-emptying.

My wife picked up a 14' U-Haul truck, she and the kids packed it, and when they were done there was room them, but not me, inside. I joked that they might strap me to the top of the truck: and my wife said, "don't tempt me."

I stayed here in Sauk Centre.

Today's move got our oldest daughter into an apartment, so she'll be closer to her new job. Sure, it's a temporary job, good until the end of the year, but: it's a job!

It's different now, with half of the kids out of the house. Quieter. My son came in a while ago, on his way to bed, turned to where his oldest sister would have been working with her laptop, and observed that he wasn't used to her being gone yet.

It will be quite a while before I'm "used to it." In a way,I suppose I never will be.

This summer was a wonderful time, with all four of our surviving children under the roof. It may be the last time that happens for a full season. In a way, I hope so. The two oldest are adults now, and it is time that they begin setting up households of their own.

There are times when I wish we lived in one of those cultures where several generations of a family might live in one compound, or on adjoining farmsteads, or whatever the arrangement might be. But, counter-cultural as my wife and I are in many ways, there's no sense in trying to run a family's economy one way, when several hundred million of your neighbors are doing something else.

Besides: this way, I figure that we're likely to get grandkids sooner, than if they stayed at home.