We moved our youngest daughter Carley into her on-campus apartment for her Senior Year at Oklahoma Christian University yesterday. For reasons I’ll never understand, she continues to insist on third floor apartments. I think she wants to be the one disturbing the people below with her noise, not the one being disturbed. So, for one last time, we hauled the couch and all those heavy tubs up three flights of stairs in Edmond’s July heat.

The moving ritual is well established for us. I assemble everything that needs assembling, perform a minor plumbing task, and hang stuff on the walls while Carrie-Anne directs the cleaning and installs the shelf paper. Of course, my sister Rhonda met us for lunch for delicious cheeseburgers at The Garage. And we took Carley to the grocery store to load up her fridge and pantry.

Valerie made the drive down from Tulsa to join the moving festivities. And we delivered to her the top of her wedding cake that’s been in the back of our freezer since July 24 last year. We’ve told her that she and David have to eat some of their wedding cake on their one year anniversary for good luck or something. She didn’t seem that thrilled. Maybe she doesn’t think a Sugar Momma’s cake from LeeAnn Clark will be as good a year later.

Our movers are arriving tomorrow, packing the trucks, and meeting us in our temporary house in Midland on Friday. Today is a day for tying up all the loose ends here in Amarillo: notifying the utility companies of our move, sending the change of address notifications, cancelling the memberships, mowing the yard for the very last time, and trying to find the keys to the front door for the new owners.

Peace,

Allan