My boy has moved!

I lost the bet; I cried at the airport. :)

Kids are off on their usual summer jaunt to their Dad's... but only my daughter will return; my son has decided to move in with his dad and become a Texan! Since he's starting high school this year (can you IMAGINE???) it was a logical year to make the transition if he was going to do it.

And, because I'm me and therefore incapable of feeling without analyzing :) I noticed a difference between feeling sad and being upset. I'm not upset about his moving. I don't tell myself any negative stories about it ('he doesn't love me, I'm being abandoned, etc.') I know he loves me; I'm fortunate in that I don't ever question that from my kids. And, I understand that a teenage guy really needs a DAD around as he's growing up, and that the ADHD probably will do better in the more structured household that isn't being run by a grown-up ADHDer. :) I'm excited that he has the opportunity, because he's going to get to go to a very good high school, one of the best in the country; and I'm proud of him for having the courage to take what is a big leap into the unknown for an almost-15-year-old.

And, even though I am not upset about his move, I am sad that I won't see him very often (yearly visits, like his dad gets now), and won't see the day-to-day changes, and be there when he comes home from his first date, and when he gets his license (OK, maybe I won't be sad about missing THAT part. I have enough grey hairs already, thanks! :) ) and all that. Little stuff, like not being with him on his birthday.

Ah, change. You'd think that since it's constant, we'd all get more used to it, but no one really seems to, do they?

I has a generation!

I'm not Gen X. I'm not a baby boomer.

I'm Generation Jones.

Makes sense to me.

* Note: Yes, the technical 'end date' for Jones is '65. But a) some demographic studies argue '67 or '68 and I think that's more accurate. b) Most of my classmates were born 65-67, and I contend that you get raised based on what grade you're in, not what age you are, when you're a 'different' age than most of your classmates. c) I can tell you that even when we were in high school, we knew that starting about two grades after me, people were -different-. Significantly different attitudes, actions, paradigms. Had we thought more deeply about it, we would indeed have said that they were far more cynical than we were. Therefore, my experience was that Generation X started, at least where I grew up, with people who graduated high school in about '87. I would argue that Generation Jones consists of those who graduated high school between about '74 through '85 or '86.