June 2004

After the last e-letter, I didn't send any for a while....I wrote a very melancholy update in June, but never could bring myself to send it....empty nesting had hit me pretty hard that month. I've since lost that letter and a few others due to a computer crash which took place in July, here's what I remember about that summer......................

June marked the fifth month in our new "old" house and it also began a new chapter in our lives - Although we were the parents of three children, only one of them was living with us that summer and while our hearts still were overwhelmed by our good fortune in finding and actually buying our little farmhouse, our lives were changing in more ways then just our area of residence.

Dallas graduated in June of 2004 and finally moved into the house only to begin packing right away to go live and work at a camp in Keystone Heights...Nikki was working there as well so now both the older kids were no longer there for dinner in the evenings and coffee in the morning. Quiet now abounded throughout the house and I wasn't too sure if I liked it.

I'd been feeling this melancholy since we moved in February but only during quiet evenings when Nikki was out with friends and Dallas was still at his Aunt's house for the weekdays....After Hunter and David went to bed in the evenings, I would have time to think too much about how the parenting part of our lives was changing. I felt guilty for moving the older kids out of their childhood home (Nikki had been 6 and Dallas only 4 when we bought that house) and wondered if they'd ever feel a "connection" to this house that would make them feel it was home to them as much as it was becoming to David, Hunter and me. Dallas sensed this sadness in me and in his own sweet way said to me that "home is where you and dad are, mom...don't worry so much!" and while that helped, it didn't quite take it all away.

So, as you can imagine, I enjoyed the two weeks after Dallas graduated immensely what with having all three of my children home finally.....but to be honest, by the time Dallas had packed up and loaded Nikki's car to head up to Keystone with Nikki I was ready for a bit of peace and quiet...but I was not ready for what came next.

You'll remember in my earlier posts reading about our two labs....one was a 2 year old black male that we had adopted just three weeks prior to our move in February and the other was our 15 year old yellow female called Shanna. The day after Nikki and Dallas left for camp, our Shanna went to the Rainbow Bridge....the following is a tribute written for her and placed on a lab lovers message board...............

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