My Daughter at Home

I went to see my daughter today.  We thought we were going to have company and invited them to come and see us and the company this weekend.  But, they couldn't. Finding money for gas these days takes some doing. And the company didn't come either. So I went to visit.   My daughter, Lynette, who hasn't seen them living in their new home, came along. I wanted to visit Jim's auntie as well.  (The nice thing about Lorene being in Grand Island is that I can see both of them in one visit.)

I don't know what I expected this time when we visited.  I have been there before.  Mostly just drop off mail and presents sort of visits, not the kind of just relaxing and enjoying ourselves kind of visit. 

We were invited this time.  Invited to have lunch with them.  With the whole little family.  And so we came.  We came to a nicely lit, tidy house, to smiling, welcoming people.  We hugged and laughed and talked and looked at each other, and ate our lunch on a table brought out of the corner to the middle of the living room so they could use the couch to sit on.  They only have two chairs. 

And all these words don't really tell what it is like.  I could write about what we saw, and I might yet.  But to say exactly what we felt, that is harder.  I felt comfortable there.  It was homey.  Sure, it is about the tiniest place anyone could hope to live in.  But, they are doing it and they are enjoying it.  Oh, I don't think they'll stay in that situation forever.  It isn't ideal.  You can tell when you walk into a house, what kind of people live there.  It's the feeling you get when you're there.  It's the people that make a home.  It's the kind of feeling that a mother wants to feel when her daughter leaves home to make a home for herself and her family.  It's the feeling that I must have done something right.  

Part 2

When we first saw this place that Lorene and Aaron chose to begin their new life together,  Jim and I were rather appalled.  It is TINY. I mean really tiny.  And it was dirty.  They live in a little apartment that is made from two very small motel rooms, where one bathroom was made into a kitchen.  And into that little space they have put the three of them and a cat.

They had to clean every inch of that space with bleach and spray for bugs.  They had to decide which of their things were the most important things to keep.  There isn't room for it all.

And, you know, they're doing it.  They have what they need, and keep things they aren't using, put away.  They are teaching Zane to play with a toy and put it away again. They are enjoying themselves and each other.  They can't have everything they want now, they are just starting out.  But, they act like they know that, and are living accordingly. 

I don't have any pictures of how their place looks now.  But this is how it looked when we were moving things in.

The Millers at Home

I'm proud of those two "kids". I'm proud of the way they are starting out their life. And I like they way they are raising Zane.