Starting...Now

Friends, the long haul of winter is upon us. If you live someplace sunny and/or warm, I don't want to know. Someday I will join your ranks. Unfortunately, today is not that day. Today I will build a fire and get back to writing. I might wear fingerless gloves. I will definitely complain.

Tonight is our last night with Jocelyn. Tomorrow we take her back to O'Hare where she'll fly out to California. It's fair to say we're all jealous and proud. We'll see her again during spring break, but over the holidays she applied for 30 different conservation internships for the summer, hoping that something will come through. Her top choice: working with the sled dogs at Denali National Park in Alaska. More than likely we'll have to do the traveling if we want to see her. Jealous and proud.

Tom is back in school again, too. This time next year he should be a college graduate! With the future staring him in the face, Gene helped him polish up his resume over Christmas break. It looks great. He's hoping to work a cruise ship musician gig for his last summer break. We're jealous and proud and are probably real empty nesters starting...Now.

Now is the time, I imagine, to find some words.