Thank you, everybody. Thought I’d  mention a little about Bruce and Paige. When our oldest was going off to college 800 miles away, we decided to drive her to school: we could see her dorm room, hopefully get to meet her roommate (I think she hadn’t arrived yet, we never did) and, hey, see our old stomping grounds at BYU. Any parent who’s been there knows how hard it is to send your first off into the world.

Not that it gets easier with the others.

Bruce and Paige found out we were nearby and invited us over, and we spent a wonderful evening catching up, swapping stories, feeling that sense of belonging beyond words.

Sam was off at some freshman thing, the only one not there.

They made a point of saying that she was to call them at any time for any reason, a ride, a hug, whatever they could do they were there for her.

I can’t begin to say how grateful we were for that. We returned home knowing she was in good hands and she, too, was relieved to know she had family backing her up should she need it. Just knowing that made the adjustment to college life easier.

(I got a call: Mom. It’s SNOWING. I have my electric blanket set to Deep Fat Fry and I am NOT coming out! She laughed soon after that yes, snow was fine now.)

We didn’t know that due to local school district date changes and autoimmune flares, she would be the only child we would get to do that with.

I talked to Bruce yesterday: soft gray, turquoise, he says. I actually have, I think in that bin… But I’m not breathing on nor touching it till I’m over my flu. I’ll just have to wait to see.

Speaking of Sam, she took the job: she really is moving to Alaska.

Which is really, really, well yes really cool.

The knitting needles, they are going to be busy.