In three days time, my house will be full again. Hayley and Ashlyn will be back from college. One will be back for quite a while. Hayley has decided it is in the best interest of her bank account, present and future, to go to DMACC for the next year and a half. She will return to UNI in the fall of 2013. The other, is back for break and then won't be back for quite some time. Ashlyn will be moving to London for the next semester.
Ask me how I feel about any of it and I will give you a lengthy one sided conversation. Oh, my dear Hayley. I am delighted that she is moving closer to me. I don't know that the next room was quite what I had in mind! But Hayley has made a tough but mature decision and I am very proud of her. I will help her in any way I can. That is true today and always. I am sad that money has made her decide to leave UNI. I believe that she was having a wonderful experience. But as she is eloquently stated "I want to be able to have great experiences when I am out of college, too. If I have so much debt, that may not be possible." Jacob is over the moon to have his cohort back.
I moved back in with my parents twice after I was married. Each time, I brought an extra person with me. They did not charge me rent, or make me buy my own food. I was not obligated to pay part of the electric or water bill. I was expected to be a responsible part of the family. I must have done a good job since they let me move in a second time! It could not have been easy on my parents. They were free of kids for a couple of years when I moved back in with Ashlyn. Then about two years later, I show up again with Hayley in tow, as well.
Hayley has only been gone for four months, and I have already adjusted to life without her. Thinking about her coming home is an adjustment as well. My sewing room is going to be her bedroom. My sewing room is now an unfinished corner of the basement (that will get finished in due time!). Danny and I have gotten used to reality shows NOT being on the television. We have adapted to eating less pasta. We have grown accustom to just Jacob.
London. That is in England which is a very long plane ride away. "How do you feel about that?" I think I am asked that question three to four times a week. I feel grateful. I feel sad. I feel ecstatic. The first and third mostly, but when I want to feel sorry for myself, I pick the second one. I am grateful that this opportunity is there for Ashlyn and am ecstatic that she is able to take advantage of it. I am sad because England is a very long plane ride away.
But she will be home this summer. I think she promised Emmitt that he could have her the whole summer! So I am counting on that, too. I would like that very much. I know that they will all be busy. There will be a lot of comings and goings, but there will be moments when everyone will be present and accounted for. Those are the days that I want to hold on to just a little longer.
And I expect that there may be a time when Ashlyn returns home for a while. She may need time to get on her feet. Or she may need time to rest her feet. Whatever her feet need, she can get it here. And no sooner will she be gone again and Jacob may just pop in for a bit. I won't mind. I really won't. I think it is a rip off that we only get them for 18 years or so. I want to have them around as they enter adulthood. I want those conversations at the kitchen table. I want that time that is so sweet between needing a parent and needing a really good friend.
So in three days time, the house will be full again. And I pray that that pattern will repeat itself whenever necessary. I would move my sewing room to the garage if that's what I had to do to have the nest full again!
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