Do Not Underestimate The Power Of The Grandbabies

From the “Never Thought This Would Happen” Department:

My parents are moving to Oregon.

Holy crap. I thought maybe my sister and her husband might someday move to Portland. But I did not think my parents would. Not in a million years.

Not because I didn’t think they would like it. I thought they would LOVE Oregon. I figured they’d like forests and countryside and the wide open spaces. I thought they’d like the people and the values and the forward thinking. They’d love the coast and the mountains and eastern Oregon. I was sure they’d love Oregon.

Except. Except for the weather. You see, we are all from Massachusetts. And we all moved away. The weather was a big reason why. My parents have lived in Florida and California. And when I said I was moving to Oregon, they wished me luck and swore, that they may have followed my sister and me to the west coast, but they would not follow me to Oregon.

I understood why. I have been fine with the winter weather in Portland. I had no issues with the gray days and the long winter nights. I will admit that spending winter in Astoria threw me for a loop, because the weather on the coast is INTENSE.

I would have thought I was sensitive to the weather, and perhaps I am. But I love the rain. It still feels like a novelty to me. And now, just as my parents were visiting, we’ve had the driest August and September since 1871. I’m hoping they do not have a false impression of the climate up here.

But even if they did, they have two little beaming rays of sunshine waiting for them up here.

Dave and I are thrilled. We get along fantastically with my parents, and I love that we will have more free baby sitters. I am so happy that my parents will be a big part of our boys’ lives.

In the time I have been living in Portland, I occasionally dropped hints that my sister and her husband should consider moving up here. I figured it was more likely they’d move than my parents. But they have a solid network of friends in California, and they like it there.

Just before my parents started thinking about moving north, my sister and her husband bought a townhouse in Orange County. So they are most definitely staying in California. They are moving into their brand new place in just a few weeks and are very excited.

My sister also just had a baby. And she is fricken adorable. So my parents will be doing a lot of traveling back and forth to visit all their grandkids. They may even see their granddaughter more often than they do now, since catching a flight from Portland to Orange County is probably easier than braving 50 miles of southern California traffic.

So. It’s some crazy shit happening over here. After this, my parents will have lived in every corner of the country. I can say with a fair amount of certainty, that winters in Oregon don’t suck as much aren’t as challenging as New England. We are a family of rolling stones.