Transitions

Fall may not officially arrive until Monday, but the trees are changing and dropping leaves here. We haven't had a freeze in town yet (for which I am grateful as I still have lots of green tomatoes on the vine).

It was four weeks ago today that as a family we drove down to Morris, MN to drop our oldest off at college. He checked into the dorm on Sunday morning and we drove home short one member of the family. It felt unreal then and still kind of feels unreal.

I pray for both children and my husband daily and I still do. The prayers for Stephen may be a little vaguer than before but not much. I pray for peace, perseverance and the ability to deal with whatever comes his way. While I don't know the days of big tests or particular times he is stressed the prayers remain the same.

And fall has traditionally been such a busy time in this family that having one fewer doesn't seem to matter. I think that might be that Jeff is busier than ever. He is doing some freelance work for the local paper, writing sports stories and being the techie for the online radio that covers local games. Yesterday he went to Ashland WI and back for a football game.

I am more involved this year with the girls swim booster club and am coordinating the concession stand. But that hasn't meant a whole lot more work, just being organized. I am doing more programs at the library this fall and that might be adding to the busyness.

So how has live changed with one kid in college, not much on the surface. And underneath, I'm still dealing with the changes, so I'll have to remark again in the future, but overall we're doing well with the change and excited to have launched the first kid out into the world, even if it is a halfway launch to college.
Diane