The first weekend in May

Jeff and Mary spent the weekend with us. This is the first chance we have had to be with them 24/2.5 since they have been "an item." It was fun. Jeff wanted Mary to see some of his roots...at least the last 33 years. So we did Holland, Saugatuck, Fennville (including church and Crane's afterward) and Holland again, and Saugatuck a second time. Nothing beats Ida Red's for breakfast, as I have mentioned before. It was a hit again.

They have lots of decisions facing them in the next several months, but I am happy to say they are very attentive to each other and have all the markings of a couple. I will allow them to define the depth at their choosing.

The best part of their relationship is that they are able to give God the credit for putting them together at this point in their lives and to me that is powerful stuff. I could not think of a better way to start a courtship than that.

Jan came back to Holland on Sunday after helping her dad settle in at her brother Tom's in Hart this past weekend. In fact, Ed dropped her off and took off quickly for his new home. Wow...56 years in the same house here in Holland and when he left he never batted an eye. "I have it a lot better than I would at the hotel (Warm Friend, which he visited a few months ago)," was his response to a question about how he liked his new digs. Ed has a suite of rooms at Tom's house (the addition just being finished) which sounds....sweet.

Jan goes back to AZ tomorrow. So today there will be shopping and a coffee with some school teacher friends this afternoon. She has trips to Florida already in the works (when the two babies arrive in July and October) and another trip back here for Tom's daughter, Crissie's wedding in August (Gary will be here for that.) In the meantime I think she will soak up some more sun and meet more interesting people.

Aleene and I have enjoyed the company. At one point A. was ripping the sheets off the spare room bed before Mary was packed and out of the way....not quite.

So all I can say is stand by. When I wrote about the privilege of retirement the other day one of the things I forgot to mention was flexibility. We have begun to think out of the box (at the end of the day I am beginning to hate that phrase) about our future and all these comings and goings are part of that decision...including the addition of Frodo to Amy's family...but that will take another post.