What I Don’t Miss and Gratefulness

It’s been a week since Biff and his clan moved out and we brought Jaime home. 

I don’t miss having the washing machine and dryer going constantly

I’m grateful for the quiet.

I don’t miss their car in our driveway when I’m backing out

I am grateful to have more width.

I don’t miss the open butters on top of paper wrapping near the toaster.

I’m grateful that Richard and Jaime know how to use the butter dish.

I don’t miss seeing open doors revealing what look like storage closets instead of bedrooms

I’m grateful her college experience has taught Jaime to keep up a tidy appearance in her room  and not the sty that Biff and Claire vacuumed only once a month – if that.

I don’t miss the long showers that each of them would take.

I’m grateful to have hot water when I just need to wash my hands.

I don't miss the procrastination or seeing them waste time.

I'm grateful that we all keep the same hours - early risers.

I don’t miss their weird food or searching for things or duplications of open items

I am grateful that we are all more observant and less wasteful.

I don’t miss the constant disappearance of dishes

I am grateful to have a dishwasher and dishes to wash.

I don’t miss Ally’s loud voice and obliviousness toward other household members.

I am grateful for the quiet.

I am so grateful that they finally have their own place.  

I'm certain that they are too.

Looking Forward to Having Space Again

           We’ll be picking Jaime up on Tuesday.  The other three should be out before her return.  They were supposed to move in today but a water line broke.  Always something.  I have really been trying to let things go and apply the scriptures to my current situation.  Sometimes I am successful but only sometimes.  More often I find myself irritated with all these little bits of ember that add up into a fiery blaze.

          I didn’t wish to focus on my irritations but at the same time knew that I needed to write things down as a reminder why they are never coming back to live under the same roof as me – smiling as I do it because I think about their also keeping a list of reasons why they will never return.  I’m guessing they are more excited by the move of finally getting out on their own than I am to see them go. I personally don’t believe they are financially prepared. We have tried to tell them but there are some things that need to be learned through experience.

          I see scenarios with our treatment toward them and our Heavenly Father toward us.  We may ask Heavenly Father for blessings but rarely does he grant us those blessings right away – at least in my experience.  He sends me the tools that I may obtain the blessing with His guidance. Sometimes the blessing I thought I wanted turns out to be something greater – but always in His due time though there have been a few that have been in mine.

          Richard’s solution has always been to provide – give, give, and give some more even when there is nothing left to give.  He still hasn’t been able to cut the apron strings.  It’s not that I wish to see Biff and Clair suffer.  I would like to see them grow.  I would like to see them find other resources – which perhaps they already have.  I don’t know.  They have slowly allowed us into their lives but for the most part have attempted to do everything without saying a word to us.  They have tried to do it on their own.  But really we can’t do everything on our own.  We all need others to draw from and to confide in. We need to rely upon our Maker.

          I wish they were moving away further than they are.  They wanted to be closer to Portland but are going to be ten minutes further – not that big of deal, but it would be nice if they could be only an hour’s drive instead of three – how they make it in just three, I’ll never know. That is the amount provided by Google.  Google doesn’t take into account the congestion of traffic or detours due to construction.  Apparently neither have they. 

          I wish them well.  Looking forward to having my space again.

Why the Aliases?

 Mom had picked out four girl names long before she married.  She wanted to name her four girls Karen Kay, Kelly Jane, Kimberly Elizabeth and Kathy Lynn.  She did end up having four children – but only two girls.  I received the first name.  My mom and dad both have names that start with G and their eldest two have names that start with K. Third born was an S and I thought we should keep the pattern going – two G’s, two K’s and so my baby sister would have to have a name that started with S.  Instead of Kelly Jane we named her Shelly Jane.  She said she was happy of that as she doesn’t care for the name Kelly.

There were a few reasons that I decided to use alias names in my blog rather than actual names.  You can read about it in my very first post found here. After I started my blog I changed my sister’s name from Shelly to Kayla because I remembered she hadn’t liked the name Kelly.  Mostly I used a middle name, one that rhymed or started with the same first letter.  But not all of them rhyme or are similar in any way.  There’s usually a method to my madness – but not always.

 

One of my brothers was born on St. Patrick’s Day and a nurse at the hospital told mom that she should name him either Michael Patrick or Patrick Michael.  In my first COQ (Book of Complete Questions) post, I mentioned him –initially calling him by his real name but then I would use his alias and tried to correct the error.  I found it easier to continue calling him Patrick as that is what my fingers have been typing.

Steven had a blog in which he referred to himself as Cody which I changed to Corey in my blog.  But now he has another blog in which he uses his given name. You can find his old blog here and his current one here. Anyway since he started using his actual name, I did too.             

Steven and I share a lot in common aside blogging.  Don’t see either Patrick or Kayla posting their thoughts to a blog.  My sister-in-law Sunny should blog.  My niece Ellen did blog.  I don’t know if she still does.  I would guess not as she has little ones at home . . .

Though I use the middle names (or forms of the middle names) for my youngest two sons, my oldest does not have the middle name Biff.  He used to have an email with the fill handle of Buffguy.  Calling him Buff seemed weird, but I had heard the nickname Biff before and so changed it to that.

I have a nephew named Gary though I started out calling him Garret.  His brother I dubbed as BJ – meaning Bill Junior.  But Gary is the one who takes after his father in personality.  In real life the one that I dubbed as BJ was named after my mom but spells his name with a J rather than a G (see here).  I had originally called my mom “June” as it is the month of her birthday – but in recent posts I have assigned the names Gary and Gerrie to my parents as that is what their real names are.  For the most part I continue to use the aliases, but sometimes I have interchanged the names – especially with Jaime and Jenna or Richard and Roland.