So we’re empty nesters once again.
On the one hand, I’m getting used to this cycle and I’m always happy to have my kids home whenever they’re between things. I enjoy spending time with them. They have become capable, interesting, decent adults, and those are the people you want to hang out with.
On the other hand, it’s still a bummer when they leave, even if it is what should be happening.
Lauren moved out of her college apartment at the end of July, shortly before the lease expired. We gathered all of her stuff into several van- and car-loads and deposited it mostly into our basement and some in her old room, where she spent exactly one night before heading off on her travels this summer. She got back at the end of last month and has been juggling time here and up by her job ever since, a situation that could not last.
So last week she found an apartment in a leafy part of the city within walking distance of her job and – purely by coincidence – only about eighty meters from where some friends of ours live. She signed her lease and we started making plans.
We spent most of the weekend hauling things up there. Much of it hadn’t really been unpacked since it arrived at our house in July so it was a pretty easy job that way, and at any rate Lauren lives pretty light so most of it fit into two van- and car-loads. We took the first trip up on Saturday, unloaded in about half an hour – three cheers for off-street parking right next to the door – and then had a pleasant walk around the neighborhood before heading back home. And on Sunday we did it again.
This is where I discovered that yes, indeed, I am that old.
Sunday’s trip also featured two of Lauren’s friends – Carson and Ethan – who were willing to bring their truck and haul the old sofa up from the basement and take it to her apartment. Given that this sofa was built out of depleted uranium and grief and is therefore the one of the heaviest things in a five-county radius up to and including some apartment buildings, that was really very nice of them. I was also deeply impressed that they got it into the apartment without having to take off any doors. We left after unloading, but Lauren is well versed in the lore of having friends help you move so the three of them spent the evening enjoying pizza and beer together, as one does in these situations.
This evening Lauren met Carson and Ethan at our house and together they collected our old entertainment center, tetrised it into the truck, and headed back up to her apartment together. The basement has a much more open feel to it now.
And now it is official. She lives there now, not here.
It’s not like I won’t see her again soon, after all. But it’s another step on that road.
Congratulations, Lauren! May the new place be filled with good times and better memories!
On the other hand, it’s still a bummer when they leave, even if it is what should be happening.
Lauren moved out of her college apartment at the end of July, shortly before the lease expired. We gathered all of her stuff into several van- and car-loads and deposited it mostly into our basement and some in her old room, where she spent exactly one night before heading off on her travels this summer. She got back at the end of last month and has been juggling time here and up by her job ever since, a situation that could not last.
So last week she found an apartment in a leafy part of the city within walking distance of her job and – purely by coincidence – only about eighty meters from where some friends of ours live. She signed her lease and we started making plans.
We spent most of the weekend hauling things up there. Much of it hadn’t really been unpacked since it arrived at our house in July so it was a pretty easy job that way, and at any rate Lauren lives pretty light so most of it fit into two van- and car-loads. We took the first trip up on Saturday, unloaded in about half an hour – three cheers for off-street parking right next to the door – and then had a pleasant walk around the neighborhood before heading back home. And on Sunday we did it again.
This is where I discovered that yes, indeed, I am that old.
Sunday’s trip also featured two of Lauren’s friends – Carson and Ethan – who were willing to bring their truck and haul the old sofa up from the basement and take it to her apartment. Given that this sofa was built out of depleted uranium and grief and is therefore the one of the heaviest things in a five-county radius up to and including some apartment buildings, that was really very nice of them. I was also deeply impressed that they got it into the apartment without having to take off any doors. We left after unloading, but Lauren is well versed in the lore of having friends help you move so the three of them spent the evening enjoying pizza and beer together, as one does in these situations.
This evening Lauren met Carson and Ethan at our house and together they collected our old entertainment center, tetrised it into the truck, and headed back up to her apartment together. The basement has a much more open feel to it now.
And now it is official. She lives there now, not here.
It’s not like I won’t see her again soon, after all. But it’s another step on that road.
Congratulations, Lauren! May the new place be filled with good times and better memories!
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