Moving Day

This time, not for me, but still so wonderful, and still so very important. Melody and Kevin and my grandkids are moving into my little house on Painter Street today. Moving to Klamath. I just never imagined this to be a possibility. I though maybe Deb might move there someday, that maybe Deanna and Keith would end up somewhere in Eastern Oregon on their 4-H ranch, but somehow never imagined that Melody would ever be ready to give up her life in Albany, the theater, her friends there, the more progressive urban life found in Albany with proximity to Portland and shopping and such. Yet the day has arrived.

I am excited for the kids, excited for my house, excited for me! I am a bit frustrated that I am still here in Jamestown, but I do know that this year will go quickly, and that this time next year I will be able to sit with my daughter in the dining room for morning coffee without having to drive 700 or 400 miles to do it. This time next year I will be in Klamath too. Close. Family. If Hillary has a play, or Elric has a game, I can drive into town and go. We can have them out for a bbq sometimes, or meet at Third Thursday downtown now and then. Simple stuff. Not all the time, not so much that it is an interference, but more than 2 or 3 times a year at least! Geez!

Life does take some surprising twists and turns, and as usual, most of the twists that revolve around the Klamath Basin for me have been good ones. I love that place, I love the feeling of home that is there, the safety net feeling that comes over me as I drop into the basin from the south, or the every single time thrill that comes when I drive over Doak Mountain and see the lake stretched out before me on the way to home in Rocky Point. Cold winters. yes. Yukky ice in February. yes. But it's home, and my kids are now there.