The family visit has ended!

The visit has ended. Our son and granddaughter left for Boston this morning to catch a flight back to their home on the West Coast. Our daughter-in-law had left Monday to deliver two kittens to a buyer in Pennsylvania.

Today began with a huge breakfast. Our daughter came over to join us and it was a very pleasant way to end a wonderful visit we had thought might never happen. The house cleared out about 10 this morning as the son, his daughter, and his sister all headed for their respective homes. Once again my wife and I were alone.

The reason we hadn’t seen our son in all these years is complex, but the short of it is he began communicating with a girl he met on line. He had just graduated from college. He had taken various jobs trying to get on his feet and set down some roots of his own. After a few months of communicating with the on-line friend, he told us he was heading west to meet her in person.

When he came home, he announced he was going back to marry her. He did. They’ve been married ever since and, of course, have a wonderful little girl. But money they didn’t have and so haven’t been able to come visit. He taught school for a while before he entered a University in his new state to earn his Masters Degree. He also began working on his Ph.D. but gave that up when he couldn’t tolerate the political requirements of his instructors.

His wife, meanwhile, entered college on her own; and attending mostly part-time for a while, she eventually earned her bachelor’s. She is now working toward her Masters. He’s working full time and he told us for the first time they had some disposable income and chose to visit us.

The week is now over. His wife is winging home from Pennsylvania while he and his daughter are on a slightly different course, but heading to the same place. And our extremely happy and wonderful visit with them has come to an end. They say they’ll return as soon as they can.

There are probably a few of you wondering why they have to come here. Why we don’t go there. It’s called health. MGD and I took our last major trip a few years ago, and now deterioration limits our travel plans. So we’re already in the anxious to see them again stage and waiting for their next visit.

I’ll get back to my ranting and raving tomorrow after I’ve learned something about the beginning of the budget debate over Maine’s spending today. It should be an interesting discussion.

G.D.