and so this chapter comes to its close...

.
Well...geez. I'm going to try to get through this without my bottom lip getting shaky. We have moved on. We left our life in Bainbridge Island and moved to Portland Oregon. Daddy and Aza drove the big truck up from Los Angeles, stopping to sight see and bury Dad's books in random dirt and ATV over sand dunes. Bobby drove his truck packed full of all our things. Mama and I drove our car, packed so full we couldn't even see out the windows, and we all met up at our new doorstep twenty minutes apart from each other. There is synchronicity happening already. It was humid and rainy and there were firecracker explosions everywhere and the whole everything felt strange and dramatic and very neat.

But all I can think about is what I left back there in those tall trees. When Grandpa left here and gave me the last hug (until he comes back to visit next week), I said, "this is sad". Well, there you go. To say I miss my old house, to say I miss Bobby and Mamop, is not expressing it enough. I mass them. I muss them. At least every time I close my eyes I see all this:



People used to always ask my mom, "how did you live with your in-laws for over two years?", like she had climbed to the top of Mt.Everest or something. And she would always say, "if you knew Gary and Susan, you would understand. They are the best people in the world. They are my greatest friends." Thank you for putting up with us for so long. We honestly swear we had only planned to stay 4 months. But it was in your house that our lives made the biggest changes, all for the better, and we owe all that to you.