Adventures in Parenting
I love my weekly phone calls with my oldest son and his wife. It’s always a pleasure to catch up and connect.
In February of this year we received a phone call letting us know that some employment interviews were happening around the country in search of a new position. Of course, we were very excited and hopeful for these new opportunities but, selfishly feeling a pang that the possibility of a move “farther away” was possible. Within 3 short weeks of that initial share our children were moving and big changes were happening.
Supporting Adult Children
It was official our son and his wife got a new employment opportunity. And maybe we just gained a new vacay destination.
The Lord provided my husband and I a great opportunity to support these wonderful young people and get a little sun with an unexpected family vacation. March in Wisconsin is brutal. As parents once an invitation/ask was made of us we wanted to absolutely support their needs and help them move with anything we could. Their needs were to move 2 vehicles and a 20′ trailer full of their possessions from Iowa to New Mexico over a weekend.
Conditions & A Positive Attitude
As residents in the midwest, winter months bring many false springs and a mirage of weather circumstances. This family adventure began on Friday, March 13th, marked as a normal day in Wisconsin with 43* temps. We left work and got on the road from Wisconsin to make our way to Iowa (with our oldest daughter as chauffeur). A large winter storm, Elsa, was headed towards our home town and we wanted to get out in front of it as we headed southeast through the state and beyond. Little did we know this adventure would bring many additional obstacles and challenges in just a few days time.
We started early on Saturday with a cold Iowa morning packing up a 20′ trailer and two vehicles from an upstairs apartment on the main street of downtown Grinnell, Iowa. March is such a fun time of year to move in the midwest as you never know if you will need winter hats and coats or if shorts and sandals are appropriate but, we successfully packed up and cleaned their apartment within 3 hours and we were ready to start this 1000 mile trip by lunch time. Our oldest daughter headed back to Wisconsin as her spring break from college was concluding and fortunately missed all the bad winter weather.
Crab Apples and Cherry Blossoms
Our adventure started in Iowa and took us through Missouri and into Kansas City. The apple and cherry blossoms along the highway were blooming and those flowers were the sneak peak of spring we all craved after a long winter. The further south we moved through the state more signs of spring and summer appeared. In classic midwest fashion we finally met the bugs and had a windshield full! Yippee! A true sign of warmer weather to come. Our first night’s destination was in Dodge City, Kansas. If you’ve never been it is a beautiful, simple community and the warmer temperatures were so welcoming. Sadly, it did not last long.
Hold Onto The Wheel
Driving through Oklahoma with 35+ mile an hour winds and 50 mile an hour gusts was a challenge no one had bargained for. It was a long day of bucking cross-winds and trying to keep a large trailer and vehicles on the road. All of our nerves were shot and the reassurance that we had made the right decision to come and help our children with this move settled in on our hearts. A cross country move is taxing enough but to have to maneuver a large trailer with an additional SUV attached behind it would have been brutal. I’m so happy we made the investment of time, energy and treasure to support them.
The weather changes in Oklahoma created such an opportunity to not only be supportive in a driving sense but to be a support and encouragement for the stressful emotional toil it was taking on these young drivers as they navigated the highways on this journey. The winds made a huge difference in this trip. High nerves for everyone.
Meanwhile back in Wisconsin
The snow was falling. The state had pretty much closed down over the course of the weekend.
Day two of driving included getting through Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas and finally New Mexico. The landscape was changing and our views were becoming snow covered mountain tops nothing like what was happening at home.
Las Cruces was a final destination. The mountains surrounding Las Cruces are beautiful. White Sands National Park was on our way. Even though we did not have time to enter the national park on this trip it will definitely be a destination in the future. The white sands are beautiful. There is a small opportunity to see a small sneak peek from the highway, but it’s nothing like the park as a whole. If you never had the opportunity to see it, put this National Park on your list! The sand is breathtakingly beautiful.
Move In Day
If you’ve ever participated in a move you know morning moving juice is a necessity. After 1000 miles of driving Saturday and Sunday we were absolutely ready to get our kiddos unpacked and help them get settled in.
We are exceptionally blessed with adult children who work very well together. Their communication skills are very good and they were able to delegate responsibilities to my husband and I for tackling projects that would be helpful to them.
Sorry folks, Wisconsin is Closed
Meanwhile in Wisconsin our neighborhood was covered in snow! It was no joke.
Our final days in Las Cruces were such a blessing to us. We were not only able to cook and hike and spend time together but we now as parents had a better understanding of their new area, their new home, the apartment complex as a whole, the neighborhood and where their new jobs would be. Now when we have our weekly calls together we are able to visualize where they spend time together, the neighborhood and shopping areas around their home. Being able to assist them has been a blessing to us that we cherish and treasure and frequently look back on fondly. And now we have a new vacation destination that we can’t wait to get back to.
We thoroughly enjoyed all of our days with our children but those two extra days of sun and nice warm weather were pretty special.
Saying Good-bye is Hard
Leaving New Mexico was a new kind of bittersweet good-bye. Good-byes are always hard but we left a part of our hearts in New Mexico. We are so blessed to have a daughter-in-love who is so good for our son, blessed to have a great relationship with them both but the truth is there will be no weekend dinners or long road trips in the near future. As a mom, navigating those pangs is challenging. I’d love to have the opportunity to invite them over for dinner regularly, or to drop off supplies or little gifts whenever the mood struck me or to just stop by for an occasional hug. What we have gained through this move and added to our life is a daily prayer for their wellbeing and continued love and growth as a young family.
We are so proud of our adult children and the life they are building together and we are so happy to have had this opportunity to support them during a new adventure in their lives.
Unfortunately we had to come back to reality. Full disclosure if planning a trip to a warm destination try not to come home a day after a blizzard has shut down your entire state. You’ll thank me later.
