Settling In

I moved to Ohio the first weekend in March and began my new job the next Monday. My family stayed in Florida for another eight weeks. I moved with the half of our possessions that they could do without. I told my wife, Nancy, that it probably looks to the neighbors like an amicable divorce. She went to work and then I loaded the moving truck with the kids. I made sure to kiss her goodbye outside for all the neighbors to see, but I think some were still surprised when I came back two months later to help them move.

Living on my own for two months was pretty secretly great. But that was probably because I talked to my family every day and knew it was just for eight weeks. I got to only buy the food I wanted to eat and go to sleep whenever I was tired.

Our daughter, Ella, started her missionary training online towards the end of March, and at the beginning of April she went to the Provo, Utah, Missionary Training Center (MTC). She is learning Mandarin Chinese and will serve in the Boston area, arriving there towards the end of May.

Our oldest son, Will, completed his Eagle Scout award before we moved but was unable to have his board of review. He either has to go back to Florida to do it in person or the council has to allow him to do it remotely. We hope that in the time of coronavirus the council is fine with remote procedures, but we'll see.

Our second oldest son, Linus, finished his baseball season in Florida. Other parents and coaches keep telling us how great he is, so I guess we have to take this a little more seriously? But I REALLY don't want to become a baseball parent. I'm not in the requisite shape to fight anybody in a parking lot, which I'm pretty sure is de rigueur.

Our youngest son, Simon, has not had any significant changes in his life, but it seems kind of jerky to mention every kid EXCEPT him.

At the end of April I flew back to Florida. It was what we call The Williversary, which is our wedding anniversary and Will's birthday (April 28th). We loaded another moving truck, dealt with surprised neighbors who thought we'd split up, and drove to Ohio.

I've been very busy with everything that a new job and new house involve, but ideally that's settling down now. So much so that perhaps semi-regular blogging can make a comeback in my life. Remember, my goal is to keep blogging until either 1) blogging becomes cool again, or 2) society enters a new Dark Age where the Internet no longer works because some combination of solar flare and nuclear war has destroyed all electronics. Unfortunately, it's looking more and more like #2 will be the winner of that horserace.