Settling In

Things are finally settling down at The Home Office. The furniture got moved on March 10, boxes and other miscellaneous items made the eight-mile trek over the weekend of March 11–12. The Crazy Like Me Correspondent is still bringing regular carloads of stuff from her former residence, aka “The Annex.” Rooms are organized, cable and internet are operational, and things are being shifted around as the new place evolves from a warehouse into a home.

The Ancestral Forebear Correspondents were here last weekend, doing what parents do in a new house: helping to hang closet doors, installing backflow valves in the sump pump, giving landscaping advice, shopping, and cleaning. The combination of two households complicated their decision on a housewarming gift; they left cash so we could get whatever we wanted/needed when we had a better idea of what we wanted/needed.

This was, of course, totally unnecessary. There wouldn’t be a new Home Office today if not for their creativity and generosity to provide some extra money for a down payment, qualifying me for an interest rate so low the closing attorney commented on it more than once. No help had been requested; they have an intuitive knack for knowing when something will be helpful, what would be most helpful, and how helpful to be. That’s a gift greater than any individual act of kindness, as it serves those close to them more than it serves them.

This isn’t the first time they’ve come through like this, without strings or any speech about how much I should be appreciating their assistance, and how I should be at the age where I don’t need them to come to the rescue any more. They’d be right. I do appreciate their assistance, and I am at an age where I shouldn’t need their help. Their unique ability to provide that help without making me feel less than adult is another unique skill, one that I can only hope I have inherited, as the Sole Heir could benefit greatly from it some day.

I’ve moved around a lot for someone universally described as a homebody. Since I left Pittsburgh to join the Army, I’ve lived in or near, Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, and Washington, DC (twice). Some of the above involved multiple residences before loading the wagon, hitching up the team, and moving on to the next metropolitan area. I’ve made friends in every location; some have unfortunately fallen through the cracks as our lives and locations changed.

The one constant in my life has been my parents. They still live in the same house I grew up in. They’ve always been even easier to find than that, though. Any time I need them, they’ll be right beside or behind me, whichever is necessary, and they’ll be there before I’m even aware I need them. Success is too often measured by career or financial accomplishments. My greatest goal is to be as continually good a parent to the Sole Heir as my parents have been to me. No one can be more successful than that.