We are entering a new season of life, Rock and I. The season when our kids start to leave the nest. It probably would have been good for my mental health if they had spread it out to avoid the double exodus in one summer, but oh well. People ask me how I’m doing with it. I have good days and bad. I am excited for them and their future, worried too, some. But I’m in a kind of mourning too. I am mourning the loss of a role. Or maybe just the changing of it. I know everyone says “a parent’s job is never done” and “you never stop parenting” and I believe that’s true. But with Reagan and Cade now moved out (details to follow, don’t worry) and Levi in high school and Liberty in 7th grade, I am no longer the mother of young children. From the time I was in high school I have worked with small children. My degree was with small children, my life for the last 18 years has been with and almost solely focused on small children. This blog, has been full of the antics of small children. And now I look at my bookshelves of dusty children’s books and the dusty lego bins and the empty bedrooms and I realize there are no more small children at my house and I mourn for what is past. I am closing a chapter in my life that has been busy and hard and challenging, yes, but full of wonderful memories and sweet chubby faces too. It is truly bittersweet. But enough with the sappy sad stuff, onto the big news.

Reagan

Reagan moved out in July to a house with roommates a few miles away. We teased him that it was time for him to leave the Garden of Eden and strike out on his own, so he found a place and moved in all in about a weekend! When we pulled up to his place to help him move in, we found fencing foils in the garage and a machete stuck in a tree in the backyard. His roommates were gone for a few days and he’d been watching Stranger Things so his first few nights were a little touch and go, but he stuck it out and is learning a lot about life and what he wants and needs in future living situations. 🙂 He is at a decision point in his life and has lots of big ones to make that could take him anywhere, but for now, at least, we still get to have him over for Sunday dinners.

Cade

We took Cade down to BYU at the end of August. He is living in the dorms and rooming with a friend from Boise. He discovered the tunnel singing group his first Sunday there and felt it was a sign he’d come to the right school. lol. Tunnel singing under the walkways to the Marriott Center has been a tradition on Sunday nights since the 80’s-Rock even did it when he lived in the dorms. Cade got a coveted spot in the BYU Men’s Chorus, which I am so excited about! They are my favorite choir, ever! I will be going down to see some of his concerts for sure! He is doing well, likes his classes so far and is learning all about the joys and sorrows of coin operated laundry. 😉

We are so excited to see what they will make of their lives and futures. Our prayers and hopes are with them both in their new grand adventures.

It is often said, and it is true in our case, that the father can always see his sons as the men they will become, but a mother will always see them as the little boys they were. Love you, Reagan Dean and Caderade.