A New Aesthetic

We met at the apartment earlyish the next morning. Caelan made cinnamon rolls and Noah made bacon—their first prepared meal in the new place! While we munched, we put together our game plan for the day—the “must-do” list was lengthy. Caelan and Noah started by getting the rental truck de-furred (so much puppy fluff!!) for its return. The fire alarm man, who failed to show up the previous morning, was due for a repeat appearance this morning. I didn’t know if Daisy would like the fire alarm man or if the fire alarm man would like Daisy—after all, no dogs were supposed to be in the apartments (although she did have a temporary pass). So, Daisy factored into our plans for the day. Turns out the fire alarm man didn’t like where Caelan stashed the fire extinguisher (under the kitchen sink, instead of sticking out like a giant red thumb in the hallway). During his visit, he retrieved the extinguisher from its logical new home and stubbornly returned it to hitchhiking in the hall. Not cute though, fire alarm man!

At about the same time Buck and the guys headed north to return the truck, the girls and I headed north to the airport with Daisy. Raise your daughters to love each other and to be each other’s best friends, and when God honors that prayer of your heart, watching them say goodbye in the airport drop-off lane is tough stuff. I’m definitely praising God for their forever connection and wishing the physical distance between them for this little while didn’t hurt so much. I’m so thankful they love each other so!

Our return to town was just a bit behind the boys, so they popped into the VRBO to grab the remaining plant boxes for transport to the apartment. Caelan put a lot of thought into how to make the small windows work in the new place—but there are only so many options when you’ve got a jungle to photosynthesize! She’s got plans to remedy the lack of light situation. When Prime days hit, so will the boxes at her front door 😉

Next, the newlyweds gathered up everything we thought would be needed for a trip to the motor vehicle office. Silly us. Motor vehicle offices always have secret requirements that no one gets to know about on the first visit! Including, apparently—the vehicle, which needs to be inspected in person! (What?!) Also, to register a vehicle, you gotta have a state ID. To have a state ID you gotta have proof of address; this can be challenging after just a few days of being at that address. BUT after a trip back to the apartment, and a bit of legwork in town (Caelan discovered how cute the town library is despite their somewhat shaky, but necessary in this situation, printing services), we returned to the county seat to try again!

Buck texted me updates from inside where he told the bewildered state ladies that he was “Dadding”—first, the car passed inspection, paperwork filled out. Next, Caelan passed the driver’s license requirements. Then Noah. Then across the hall to do pictures. Then back across the hall to prove they had licenses to register the car—close scrutiny on the paperwork, but PASS! Back across the hall for plates. And—like 17 hours later (just kidding! The ladies were actually mostly really nice and held their place in lines, so they could pop back and forth)—success! Licensed and registered in their new state! For under a hundred bucks—wooot!

We then toured a Costco, grocery store, and Home Depot to find food and misc. things to continue projects at the apartment, all the while keeping track of Gabby’s progress toward home. We were too late to visit the campus bookstore to shop via facetime, as we’d planned, but it turned out there was no WIFI in there anyway, so shopping got double delayed.

Let’s see . . . I got the meal we’d selected at Costco put into the oven, then helped Caelan decide where to put up her artwork in most of the rooms. Noah kept unpacking boxes—so many boxes! We definitely filled the dumpster to overflow proportions :) The boys helped when called upon, but also made sure the TV and video games were functioning correctly ;) Daisy successfully made sure no one forgot about her, and Buck headed back to the VRBO.

When the fireflies came out to play in the warm dark, I drove to the VRBO (all two minutes away) and looked for an on-the-way-home hotel with Buck. Brennen walked over about 11 p.m. with the requested snacks :) He and Buck watched Forged in Fire and I went to bed. That turned out to be the best night of sleep I’d had since we got back from Africa—7.5 hours with no wake-ups, yay!

On our final morning, we left a little later than planned, which was a better plan. Buck asked a couple of checkout questions and thanked our host for the stay via text. When he mentioned that we’d like to stay again, the host responded that we could book directly and avoid the online fees in the future. Sweet! While he and Brennen were getting the bags together, I walked across the road. I figured Caelan and I could do one more project, and she chose to put the cute ivy contact paper from the kitchen drawers on the fridge to make it look a bit more interesting and colorful.

Next, we kenneled Miss Daisy, loaded into the van, and tried another coffee shop in town—we all agreed we liked the ambiance of the first shop better, but the flavor of the drinks at the second one more. Then we drove onto campus—suddenly realizing that Buck and the boys missed the school tour on our visit a couple years ago—so, we took a bit of an extended wander of the student center, bookstore (so many logo things to buy!), and campus grounds. Such a pretty place! Peaceful and well-kept. Also, very quiet this time of year, when there are very few students milling about.

Daisy was delighted when we returned, perhaps because the car insurance inspector lady (for the hail damage), who arrived quite early, had been knocking on the door? But, another big thing on their move-in check list done!

And then . . . it was time to go. We took a quick video of the apartment, took some front door photos, prayed over their new space, shared some tearful farewell hugs, and loaded into the van. It is really hard to drive away not knowing exactly when the next in-person hello will be. Ooof. I may just be wearing all of my new university gear at home for the next week—never mind that it is all sweatshirts and sweatpants and long-sleeved t-shirts and it is supposed to be like 120 degrees. It will be fine! Fine! Wahhhhhhh! Not fine :(

Okay, well . . . so, we quickly realized it was already noon, not the intended 10, and we had *eaten* coffee and chai for breakfast. So, we stopped by Chipotle for lunch, then updated Buck’s former boss’s wife (the family we vacationed with in the Tetons several years ago—they’ve been so supportive of our family over the years!) on our timeline. She adjusted her plans and sent us an address that was easy to hop on and off the interstate to meet for ice cream. We spent a much-needed hour catching up in person, lots of hugs, and then we were back on the road again.

I definitely needed something to make me smile, so when I accidentally discovered how easy it is to make stickers from photos in my phone into fun pictures like this . . . I just had to share!

Noah, didn't miss a beat--he texted back "I have an idea" with my work of *art* filling the blank space above their TV. That made me laugh for real! He has my vote for interior design!

More than several hours later, we found ourselves circling a once familiar college town with a very different look, feel, and nightlife than the one we’d just left. Feeling road-weary, kinda grubby, and a lil bit hangry, we attempted to check into an unexpectedly bougie hotel that apparently sprang from the earth five years ago, completely disorienting me from what used to be “old stomping grounds.” 

Daisy Baby turned into straight up Crazy Daisy as she plowed her way into the lobby where I’d just explained that she’d been part of a service dog program etc. etc. when they asked—and gave us the service dog discount. Thank goodness the weirdness of their priorities put dogs above people in that scenario, because Daisy was not very convincing of her very well-behaved roots! Public access? Yeah—she had it! Did she look very service ready? Oh my . . . granted, she’d been taken away from Caelan, stuck in a van for seven hours, was three hours past her dinnertime, hyped up on a puppuccino and the collagen bone Buck bought her at a gas station. Her potty walk with me was interrupted by the front desk needing to see me, because I’d booked the room (with Buck’s credit card) and he wasn’t enough proof we wanted to stay there. They had no parking, no luggage carts, and there were one million distractions—including a little league wiffle ball team hitting round objects around the lobby and outside the exit doors. I mean . . . give the furry girl a break!

We made it to our room (a cart appeared, hooray!) Buck went to park the van down some distant alley, and we decided to take the wild one (now fed, but very snooty about the city water in her dish) for a much-needed exercise. The ped-mall looked completely different with no recognizable restaurants—but you could still taste the beer by breathing the air, so I knew we were in the same place. The old mall now is brick-faced storefronts that thankfully sported a familiar chain restaurant that seemed our best option. Brennen helped me walk the wild one up to the campus and posed with her for her second collegiate photo of the day. She’s so advanced for her age (hahaha). We met Buck and G$ on the sidewalk and then headed back to the hotel to eat in our room.

I fell asleep, like way asleep—didn’t hear the TV turn off, didn’t notice the lights get shut off, didn’t notice the puppy get kenneled (although she might have done that for herself around the time I zonked out); I was wiped out! I awoke in a bit of a panic the next morning at 10 a.m. Eastern time thinking, “The puppy chugged all that water and we didn’t take her down from our fifth-floor perch to potty before we went to bed. OH NO!!!” But clearly she was fine . . . and likes the air-conditioner right about her kennel, lol 😊

Buck, G$, and I took a run at breakfast, which was above average! Then Buck went to find the van while we got the puppy and the room ready for exit. I could share more details of the trip home and the guys working on the cars and the laundry and resettling into the house and Daisy’s confusion about still being an only dog, but honestly, there is sooooo much to write about, I’m going to let this be the conclusion of the tale.

Wow, what a week! I’m super thankful we got to make some new memories, together, as a family, in the newlyweds’ new home, so that it feels more like home from the start. Chase has some catching up to do on all the coffee shops and restaurants, but we’ve got all the outdoor exploring to do on future visits, so there is more adventure to come!