It's just a bunch of stuff that happened - Part 3: Empty Nest Again

How it started:

In June, Younger Daughter was offered a job.  !!! A real job, teaching anatomy at a community college.  She moved back home, in transition to her new job which is in a small town about two hours’ drive away.

YD will be following in a long family line of
educators.  Here's my mother (YD's 
grandmother) teaching science educators
in Panama.  The Common Household Husband
(YD's father) is an educator.  My father's
mother (YD's great grandmother)
was an educator.

How it’s going:

Younger Daughter arrived here in late June, after a very difficult time moving - the container didn’t show up on the appointed day, which meant she lost money on the moving crew and her plane ticket home, which was supposed to be the next day.  And YD had packed up all her stuff, meaning she had to live in sparse conditions.  Eventually the things were packed and moved and she flew here, beleaguered, a week later.  This included her rescheduled flight being cancelled, for no apparent reason.

In exchange for room and board here, she paid for one large bevy of groceries, and did most of the dinner cooking.  YAAAAAAY for someone to do the dinner cooking!  She is a good cook.  We had paella, spinach enchiladas, broiled salmon, sausages with rice and peas, and more.

We baked So Much (recounted in this post). 

As expected when progeny moves home to the ancestral abode, there have been testy moments, but overall it was marvelous having YD here.  We sang at the piano, we baked, we chatted, we shopped for her new apartment, we watched a weird movie.

Last Friday morning, during the second day of monstrously unhealthy air quality, the Common Household Husband drove YD two hours southeast to her new town.  He drove back that same day, exhausted.  Without YD (as planned).  Sob.  

First impressions of the town.

Also last Friday morning, the house sewer pipe backed up, making our world stinky both inside and out.  Oh, 2026, please stop your mischief!  But CHH and YD left on schedule, leaving me to deal with physical therapy, the exterminator (did I mention we also had ants in the house?) and the plumber.  Those all happened on schedule, with good (so far) outcomes.

Ew,

Ewwwww.

That evening, given the tension of the day, we asked each other dolefully, “Do you think YD is doing okay?”  But we did not text or call.

The next morning, we asked each other, “Do you think YD is doing okay?”  and “Is the sewer line still clear?” But we did not text or call, O Best Beloved.  Miraculously, of her own accord, YD texted us joyfully that the Pod (the container with all her furniture in it) had arrived at the appointed time (unlike the previous time).  And, get this, she has met some of the neighbors!  In the 21st century, that hardly happens any more.  The neighbor who was being evicted for bad behavior has already left.  

Container delivered.  Whew.

We miss YD a lot.  We do have a political campaign staffer living with us – she is charming and I have grown quite fond of her.  But we count this as a return to being empty nesters.  Hooray!

And now, off to new adventures!  If you can call them that, in 2026!

Part 1: Peaches Deliver Joy

Part 2: Chairs and Gardens