So, the move update… My dd and her family are living here now! We still have some rooms where there are a few boxes left to tackle. We still have pictures we have to find places to hang. My office/art room smashup still has to be sorted and seems to get worse every day when my dd says, “Should I donate this?” and I say, “But I can do something with that!” So, natch the item joins the piles to be sorted in my space. She shudders when she comes down here. I shrug and tell her, “I’ll get to organizing when I finish this set of edits…this book…” Yeah, it’s going to take me years.

Besides the people now crammed inside this house–8!— (Okay, so not crammed, we actually have enough rooms everyone has their own bedroom!), we also started with my mom’s 4 dogs and my dd’s 6 dogs, her 4 cats, her guinea pig, and our 2 horses… We’re a truly big, blended family now. And here’s proof!

I hesitated posting this pic because the fence is bent—the horse likes to lean over it to get at the grass in the yard—and the tarp over the woodpile is shredded from a recent storm, plus our pretty horse Brandy looks bedraggled from the rain, but Malek and Brandy met at this moment, and there wasn’t a war. So, yay!

Malek’s pretty smart though. He tolerates other dogs, cats and guineas, and humans who are part of the fam. Now, horses. We’re making great progress.

My quiet life is no longer that. It’s noisy, chaotic, filled with loud voices (it’s an Irish/Scottish/German/Mexican family, so lots of vigorous…uh, debating). And I love it. If it was quiet here, I’d dwell on the losses over the past couple of years. However, I know my father built this house for his family. It’s still in the family, serving its purpose. He’d be happy that we’re happy living here. My role has changed from daughter to matriarch (although I’m happy that my daughter likes to run things). She leaves me to putter in my hoarder’s craftroom-office, makes most of our meals, runs kids to their appointments. I’m here for backup when she’s over-committed. It works.

As well, we have room for extended family to visit. Same as my mother did, we shift kids to bunk together to open up a room, use sofabeds. We expect lots of guests come summer because, hey—pool! Can’t wait to get that sucker cleaned up and ready for the season. This year, I’ll have plenty of help.