empty nester

 It's official. I'm an empty nester. Tim was packed up and ready to go last Friday.

This is the only house he's lived in his whole life. This was his bedroom for over 22 years.

I didn't particularly like seeing this truck in front of our house.

 The poor cats were so confused as to why Tim's room was empty. Sorry for the

poor lighting quality. As you can see, this room is rather dark. And still has the

original carpeting! I have big transformation plans for this room. :-)

 At one point on Friday morning, I walked into the back yard and saw this beautiful

swallowtail on the butterfly bush. I took it as a sign that all will be well.

After a couple of hours of last-minute packing, getting everything into the truck, 

then driving 1-1/2 hours, we reached Tim's new house. The mom and perfectionist

in me immediately wanted to start pulling all those gigantic weeds in front, trimming

the bushes, and putting a big pot of bright flowers on the porch! Tim said, "Mom, this

isn't a parent's house." He's right - you can definitely tell young people live there!

We got all Tim's furniture and boxes moved into his new room and Tim immediately

started on reassembling his desk.

MoJo, one of Tim's roommate's dog, had to check out what was going on.
He kept sniffing us and all the boxes. I'm glad there's a sweet dog in the house
because Tim's going to miss our kitties. At least he'll kind of have a pet.

Brian had to go back home early so he could return the rental truck, and I stayed

behind and took Tim grocery shopping. Got him set up with the basics - now he's

on his own! We also went to a nearby bank so he could open an account. We

then went out to dinner at a casual, little mexican place that we found, I dropped

him back at his new house, then said my goodbyes. I didn't even cry. I've had

some anxious moments since then, but I'll be OK. I was just texting with Tim and

he sounds happy. That's what we want for our kids, right?

On Saturday, Brian and I took advantage of the beautiful day stretched out before

us and took a walk in the State Park. One good thing about living in the Midwest in

the summer ~ the landscape is so lush and beautiful.

I have no idea what these purple flowers were, but I love how we suddenly came

upon a field full of them.

I couldn't believe the tons of lily pads in the lake - you could barely see the water!

And even though I'm familiar with the site of lily pads, I had never seen a water lily

until now. They're so beautiful, they barely look real.

After our walk, we had a light picnic lunch ~ veggies and hummus, cheese and

crackers, grapes and an apple. It's weird to think it's just the two of us again after

25 years of children being in our house, but...here's to a new chapter in our lives!