As of last week, my six kids, daughter-in-law, and grandson all lived with me and my husband. The oldest son and his family will be moving out to attend college in the fall, as will the oldest daughter. Same college that both my husband and I attended, NC State -- how awesome is that? Estimated time of departure for those four: mid-August. Youngest son is 'thinking' about starting his papers to serve a two-year mission for our church, but he and his two single older brothers are currently unemployed even though second son has a college degree. Youngest daughter has special needs so she will always be with us. She's just finishing middle school so the timing is right for a change.
My husband has been with the same software company for thirty years this May. He is 'retiring' and starting work for a consulting company that pays slightly less, but will give him something new to do. It was a tough decision and it took him a looooong time to make it, but we decided that a big change was needed. Sons two, three, and four desperately need a new environment to get them to move forward with their lives. So we prayerfully chose a place that has educational, employment, and marriage opportunities for them.
We're moving to Logan, Utah. If you're not a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, this paragraph will be meaningless to you, and you have my permission to skip down the page. Logan, home to Utah State University, has five Young Single Adult stakes. Compared to right here in Raleigh where there is only one YSA ward. What this means is that this friendly small college town in scenic Cache Valley is crammed full of LDS young adults. It's also a few hours from BYU-Idaho, which would be another good place for my reluctant-to-leave-home sons to attend.
Since we're moving, we have to sell the house. I get a sharp pain right between my eyes when I think about how much work we still have to do to get this house on the market. And spring is quickly coming to a close so it needs to be ASAP. Ten people living under one roof means lots of stuff that I don't care to haul across country, since we'll be moving ourselves. Last big move was on the company dime. They packed us, moved everything, put furniture wherever we told them it goes. It was relatively painless (oh, and the house sold in a weekend because it was the height of the housing boom and right outside Washington, D.C.) but this time we have to do it ourselves, plus take two cats. Five days on the road. Two U-hauls. Multiple drivers but did I mention two cats? Cats don't do leashes or being in a carrier all day. They'll need sedation. I'd like some, too, but I'll be driving.
We have a big house on six acres. Nice, but also above the price range of the average two-child American family coming to small town Holly Springs, NC. Did I mention it's also an 'unusual' house? Renovated 1970's log-cabin (sort of) with a huge addition. No garage. No fancy master bathroom. Tiny closets. I'll be the first to admit that it's weird, and weird doesn't sell in an area where trendy, new, more affordable houses with 'spa-like' master bathrooms and huge walk-in closets, pop up like mushrooms after a rain.
So we're decluttering twelve years worth of clutter from ten people. And I'm looking at the slow progress and the swiftly moving calendar and thinking, "is it too late to get a lobotomy?" I just want to work on my next book, but noooooo -- I have to paint and throw stuff away and keep up with the Craigslist ads. (Please buy our 1999 Suburban!)
So who has time to write a blog post? Not me. But I promise once we're settled in Logan maybe late summer (and assuming we don't buy a fixer upper -- wow, my head really hurts), I'll fill my blog with wonderfully entertaining words, sure to make you happy that you didn't 'unfollow' me.
Just to prove that I'm not as dull and whiny as this blog post, here are some photos from our recent trip to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Orlando, Florida. Happy spring -- and summer.
~Sterling
