He's all moved in

He put the art on the walls before he moved in a single box.

It was the first thing he brought over to the new place that he will now call home. I was appalled. Both by the fact that he wanted to put nails in the wall before he knew where the furniture would go and by the fact that he will now call somewhere else home. I tried to convince him to wait, both on the move and on putting the pictures up first, but gave in on both fronts. He's an adult, I keep telling myself, and he is smart, clever, and capable. Just let go... let him put the art up on the wall.

It brought back a memory of an old Roseanne episode when Darlene moved to the city. While Roseanne was helping her middle child unpack her things, Darlene insisted on putting her socks in the bottom drawer. Darlene was always the rebellious child and wouldn't be convinced to follow the unspoken rule that the socks go in the top drawer (we all know it's true). This drove Roseanne insane, but she gave in until the end, when she climbed out of bed after Darlene had fallen asleep and moved all the socks to the top drawer.

This episode kept playing in my mind all day while the boys and sweet Jess were moving in all the furniture. I was whispering to myself all day -- I can't believe he put the art on the wall. It's never going to work. What are we going to do? We don't have spackle or extra paint to cover the holes that he made. OH NO! Here comes the dresser... oh, well, that looks okay. But the bed, that's never going to... wait, that looks good. By the time they got it all in and put where TYLER wanted it to go, it was PERFECT. It looked great. WOW! Who knew?!?

He was right.

Bed against the wall because that's where he wanted it.

But I have to confess something that you have to promise not to tell him. He has this built in area near his closet that has drawers. So while he, Chance and Jess were gone to pickup another load of boxes, I quickly unpacked all his clothes and put the socks... can you guess? I had been through enough with the move, the art, and the idea that my first born now has his own place that I couldn't stand the thought that they would end up somewhere other than the top drawer.

P. S. And after downloading the photos from the weekend's activities, I've realized something. And it's this.

That as much as my baby child, Chance, drives me insane with his plans, his change of plans, and his changing of those plans, we would not have been able to get everything done this weekend if it were not for him. I love this photo... Tyler has great light in the apartment.

Chance has the energy and the drive to finish that makes us all feel just enough guilt to get up and get it done. He hauled boxes down the stairs and then back up the stairs. No, I've got it, Mom. You go sit down, Mom. Let me do it, Mom. He is my baby. And I thank God every day for sending him to me.

And FYI... the little panic attack of yesterday is over and I'm moving on. I've battled the pile of junk that landed in my dining room on Friday and Saturday, organized it, and just about put it all away. I've left the three keepsake buckets there in case I run across anything else that needs to be put into them. And that's all I'm going to say about that.