Gone

Simply and without fuss, today a phase in my life came to an end.

Kids fly the nest, they go away and build their own nests, of course they do. I'd be worried if they didn't.

Daughter went to university just after her eighteenth birthday, did her degree, worked for a year in a boarding school at the far end of the country, then went to continue her studies in Cardiff. She's made Cardiff her home and is very happy there. That's where she met her Chap, and where they'll live. (But he has family in Northumberland. Good Man.)

LOS went to Newcastle to study, then worked from home for a little while before moving to North Wales. Then he took a job in Leeds, came home, married Lady Sunshine, and moved with her to a delightful Yorkshire village.

LYS studied in Lancaster, came home, worked in the Civil Service, went back to do his Master's Degree, and got a job in Leeds, still living at home, though it was a long journey to work and back. Besides, we're moving in August. So today he moved in with a couple of friends near Leeds. In a year's time, he and The Lassie will be married and settling into a place of their own.

So, you see, up to now the boys have come and gone. But this is it. This is for good, and I'm happy that they've all got their own lives and people to share them with. Apart from coming to visit, and maybe to stay, that's it. End of an era.

So now, who will tell me which Terry Pratchett to read next, and share the in-jokes with me? Who else is funny in the way that LYS is funny? I have conversations with LYS that I couldn't have with anyone else, on all sorts of subjects. He has inherited my love of words and my migraines. (Sorry about that, son, it wasn't intentional.) Who can Hamilton watch the football with? When we decorate the Christmas tree, LYS lifts me up so I can put the fairy on the top. All right, Tony can lift me up or I could climb a ladder, but it's sort of traditional now. He's going to wind me up about the blog when he reads this. He's very good at winding up.

And tonight is the night the bins and recycling go out. Tony, you're on your own.