We are now a day into our third trial run at being empty nesters, what with various college enrollments and exchange programs and all, and so far it’s going pretty well though the place is rather more quiet than it used to be and that will take some getting used to.
It’s not like we hadn’t seen it coming.
Oliver has been living at home since he graduated college, working as an advisor in my office down at Home Campus. But his larger goal was to go to graduate school as a historian, and after a strange bureaucratic meltdown at his chosen school last year they finally admitted him for this year’s cohort.
He and I went out there a couple of months ago and found an apartment on the second floor of an old house, and as the move-in date approached this summer we’ve been getting ready for it. Oliver spent a good chunk of the last few weeks getting utilities set up, packing stuff, and generally preparing for the move. Last weekend we went down to the nearest IKEA and looted the place – say what you will about flat-pack furniture, but it does in fact pack flat which is a marvelous thing when you’re trying to stuff a studio apartment’s worth of belongings into a minivan and an old station wagon.
He chose the menu for dinners last week to make sure he had some favorites before heading off, and I spent Wednesday night Tetrising boxes and assorted other items into the cars. And on Thursday morning we headed out.
It’s a long drive but not an overwhelming one for anyone who has spent time in the midwest, though it does require you to go around Chicago which is never a good thing. Rush hour in Chicago starts at 5:45am, runs for 23 hours and 55 minutes, and extends as far out as Rockford IL and Michigan City IN. Also, every single highway in the broad expanse of Chicagoland is under construction and has been since 1958. They are not expected to be completed. But we made it to our destination in good order and even managed to pick up Dustin at O’Hare along the way, since he was coming to help.
Fortunately for all of us, Oliver’s landlord said he could move in on Thursday rather than waiting until Friday, which meant that we could unload the cars and not have to worry about all of Oliver’s worldly possessions sitting overnight in a hotel parking lot.
Unfortunately, even at 6pm it was 91F/33C and humid the entire time we were doing this, the apartment did not come with air conditioning, and in the weeks since Oliver and I had found this place we’d both forgotten just how steep the staircase to his apartment actually was. The word “Alpine” kept coming up in conversation. But between the four of us we got everything except the portable air conditioning unit into his apartment, headed back to the hotel for much-deserved showers, and then found our way back to the ramen place that we seem to gravitate toward whenever we are in that city – Oliver has now eaten there every single time he’s been there. What can we say? It’s good food.
Friday morning we went over and began the project of cleaning the apartment and converting the flat-pack furniture into actual three-dimensional furniture. Kim and I also figured out how to get the portable air conditioner unit up the front steps, which were much longer but significantly less steep than the more direct staircase, and after a few hours it was ready to go. We were all very grateful for that.
There was a break for lunch and a Costco run.
It’s not like we hadn’t seen it coming.
Oliver has been living at home since he graduated college, working as an advisor in my office down at Home Campus. But his larger goal was to go to graduate school as a historian, and after a strange bureaucratic meltdown at his chosen school last year they finally admitted him for this year’s cohort.
He and I went out there a couple of months ago and found an apartment on the second floor of an old house, and as the move-in date approached this summer we’ve been getting ready for it. Oliver spent a good chunk of the last few weeks getting utilities set up, packing stuff, and generally preparing for the move. Last weekend we went down to the nearest IKEA and looted the place – say what you will about flat-pack furniture, but it does in fact pack flat which is a marvelous thing when you’re trying to stuff a studio apartment’s worth of belongings into a minivan and an old station wagon.
He chose the menu for dinners last week to make sure he had some favorites before heading off, and I spent Wednesday night Tetrising boxes and assorted other items into the cars. And on Thursday morning we headed out.
It’s a long drive but not an overwhelming one for anyone who has spent time in the midwest, though it does require you to go around Chicago which is never a good thing. Rush hour in Chicago starts at 5:45am, runs for 23 hours and 55 minutes, and extends as far out as Rockford IL and Michigan City IN. Also, every single highway in the broad expanse of Chicagoland is under construction and has been since 1958. They are not expected to be completed. But we made it to our destination in good order and even managed to pick up Dustin at O’Hare along the way, since he was coming to help.
Fortunately for all of us, Oliver’s landlord said he could move in on Thursday rather than waiting until Friday, which meant that we could unload the cars and not have to worry about all of Oliver’s worldly possessions sitting overnight in a hotel parking lot.
Unfortunately, even at 6pm it was 91F/33C and humid the entire time we were doing this, the apartment did not come with air conditioning, and in the weeks since Oliver and I had found this place we’d both forgotten just how steep the staircase to his apartment actually was. The word “Alpine” kept coming up in conversation. But between the four of us we got everything except the portable air conditioning unit into his apartment, headed back to the hotel for much-deserved showers, and then found our way back to the ramen place that we seem to gravitate toward whenever we are in that city – Oliver has now eaten there every single time he’s been there. What can we say? It’s good food.
Friday morning we went over and began the project of cleaning the apartment and converting the flat-pack furniture into actual three-dimensional furniture. Kim and I also figured out how to get the portable air conditioner unit up the front steps, which were much longer but significantly less steep than the more direct staircase, and after a few hours it was ready to go. We were all very grateful for that.
There was a break for lunch and a Costco run.
Then we were back at it, building and cleaning, setting up the internet and wifi, and eventually grocery shopping as well.
And then Kim and I left. You have to do that, as parents. You have to go. Dustin is going to stay for a few more days, though, which is lovely since it has been a while since they saw each other and they can get the place more set up while he’s there.
It was a much longer ride home than the ride there, even though we just retraced our steps. It always is when you drop off your child into the next stage of their life – a stage that they will travel through on their own. We’ll be here, of course, but here is not there. It’s our third time trying this, though, and we’ll be okay.
Oliver is off to a new adventure, and I wish him all good fortune and success. Go and do well, Oliver. I’m proud of you.
2 comments:
Please convey our best wishes to Oliver: "Fair Winds and Following Seas."
Lucy
Will do! Thanks! :)
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