It’s not often you get to share lunch with a knitter who lives on a different continent. (And then she surprised me and treated me at Coupa Cafe–thank you, Holly!)

We talked knitting, we talked kids, we both looked forward to the day she and her husband actually move here and stay put, but in the meantime, we grabbed what time together we could.

And then I very reluctantly drove her to the train station and went home to do exciting things like getting laundry done and put away.

Our nephew Ryan will be arriving tonight. I can’t wait!

Had a lovely time, dashed, came home to a message that Kathy had called and ran right back out the door to Stanford hospital, where our friend Kelli (scroll halfway down) was recovering from surgery. Never rear-end someone on a bike.

The three of us laughed, we told stories, I stayed four hours till I really did have to go: we had shopping to do before Costco closed and we had to un-claim Sam’s old room. (She had yarn in her old dresser? Who knew?)

Our nephew Ryan is arriving Monday for the summer.  His room is ready. Our Michelle will arrive ten days later. It will be good to have young’uns around again.

Today he saw our faces on the screen and he knew exactly who we were and that we were real. We had a great time playing with him, clapping with him, cheering him on and even got a “Hi” and “Bye”!

Seventeen months. Next thing you know he’ll be on the soccer team.

Here’s him riding with his cousin coming up close behind. (Go for the nose, kid, and your dad cuts off the video quick.) We think he’s cute.

Dangle a yarn in front of me that I really, really want, that I could tell you all the reasons why it would be just the most perfect yarn for so many potential recipients, and to seal it, make it something that’s a one-time thing only and at an unbeatable price…

…While knowing there’s just no justifying it till I make decent headway on what I’ve got. Lots of sand on that beach grabbing at my toes.

Well then. Dive in!

But–but–I wanted to SEE them again, both of them!

I am grateful beyond words that we got to see him and his wife several times in the last few years and that they made the effort to come to our son’s wedding four years ago. Where pictures were taken.

Even when he was dog-tired from being too interested in all the new places to take a nap, he stayed cheerful. Such a sweetie.

I so wanted to stop by Diana’s on our way to the airport, but we had made it Thursday morning by three minutes before they started boarding, and snow–*snow*!–was predicted in Michigan; Richard didn’t want to risk the time, not with all the people who might be cramming the airport with the graduation festivities all ending and the possible road hazards with the weather and returning the rental car.  And all that.

Michelle’s roommate had her mom staying with them and so Michelle’s friend Melissa offered sight unseen to put us up for the two nights; all the hotels around had been booked for that weekend for months, we were told. So a big shout-out to Melissa for her kindness; she’s such a good soul, and her grandpa she takes care of is a love, too. Apple. Tree. Yes. And Grandpa loves his birdfeeder.

It was so good to see our daughter in her own environment. To see where–well, everything, and quite a few really good people. To meet her peach of a roommate.

We did stop by Friday night at Lisa and Mike’s, the friends whose daughter Tara is the namesake of my redwood-burl-pattern shawl. (Holy cow. $899 for a new copy on Amazon tonight? Hey, y’all, go to Purlescence; they’ve got it in stock at cover.)

I asked their youngest, now in high school, the only one not born in California, if he remembered meeting us when he was little. How I picked him up and twirled him around and around, arms to outstretched arms, spinning, spinning till we both fell down and his oldest brother David exclaiming, NOW you’ve had the Sister Hyde experience!

Nope, he shook his head a bit bashfully, don’t remember that.

That’s okay, you were pretty little.

Today, our GPS tried to route us straight through campus to get to the airport.  As if! We turned left instead and made it tell us how to get to the highway going around all the other celebrants.

New adventures and new places to come. Our children have the whole world open to them.

Whose mother managed not to yell, Go SHELLE!!!

But only just barely.

I told her.

My mom: “That’s the bedroom I was in before I went to college!”

My grandparents built their dream house in the late 1940’s on a hillside overlooking Salt Lake City. My grandmother wanted it old and traditional; my grandfather wanted it new and modern.

So they compromised: at the front, you see a lovely stone house–I have always loved stone houses, and if you’ve got Rocky (note the name) Mountains facing your  front yard… And the back is floor-to-ceiling windowspace across the living room, as if the house were in California rather than Utah.

My grandparents sold it; as I understand it, another couple lived there for decades, and finally it came back on the market.

My uncle, the baby of his family and the one with the most memories of that house, snatched it immediately.

He invited us to come stay there while we were visiting for our son Richard’s graduation from BYU Law school; his beds would be more comfortable than the small hide-a-bed at my folks (true). My brother wanted to come from Colorado with his three girls, the chances for us to see each other being far too few, and Uncle Bob offered them his house, too. Plenty of space, feel free, come!

We had such a good time…

We got to see Richard and Kim and her parents, (my husband) Richard’s sister and her family, one son having just finished his undergrad at BYU, aunts, uncles,  nephews, my parents. Some of my cousins visited us. Today we got to see Richard’s other sister, who recently finished her chemo treatments and looked so much better than the last time I saw her. (As I was told, too, over and over by everybody.)

And we got to play with Parker! Pictures coming.

I asked Uncle Bob, who was about to grab his own plane out, what Aunt Joyce’s favorite color was.

And you know he knew exactly why I was asking that as his face totally lit up.  Blue. Then he clarified, Light blue.

Let the stash search begin.