a true empty nest

well, it is official. my baby girl flew the coop. she moved into her apartment last thurs. after graduating from tech in may. it was somewhat bittersweet. on one hand i was happy, she was moving closer to work and would have more activities near her. on the other hand, my house will be with a child except for occasional visits.

in fact this christmas, sarah will be working and jordan will be here at thanksgiving, but not christmas. i'm already thinking about being sad and that's not good. i do keep telling myself, christmas doesn't have to be a particular day; it's when you and your family can be together. repeat to self and hubby-christmas doesn't have to be celebrated on a particular day; it's when you and your family can be together. i know it will be okay, but for the first time in 26 years we will not be together on Dec. 24th and 25th. The first time I won't be videotaping the kids opening their gifts and their stockings. Traditions. The big breakfast, watching movies, playing games, eating more food, relaxing around the house in our pj's all day if we want. the plan now is to get together with jordan and kristeen after christmas at their house and hopefully sarah will have time off to join us or else we won't all be together at all for the holidays.

back to sarah's move. she used moveforfree.com and it was great. they helped her find the apartment and she used them on her referral on the apt. application and they moved all her furniture and 10 boxes. this was the easiest move we have had. she just had to pay $10 for mileage and then the tip she gave them. i went to her apartment on thurs. after school and helped her some. we put her bed together but were missing a piece so we couldn't complete the job. saturday she called me when she woke up after her friday nite shift and we went to ikea and found barstools and some other assorted household items. here's what i put together: