Tristan's Arrival

This is not much of a photo, but a huge symbol for the two of us -- two weeks from today our granddaughter Desiree and her little boy, Tristan, our only great-grandchild, will arrive here.

We were surprised and delighted when she said that she would like to go with us in July to family camp. They will be here for about 12 days before they return to Oklahoma.

When they arrive here on July 8th it will be just days short of one year ago that they exited California for Oklahoma. Those of you who knew me then and read my journals, knew the intense sorrow that we felt last summer when Desiree was swayed by her mom to head for the Midwest. A photo and some of the explanation are here.

We've stayed in touch with Des this past year and have sent toys for Tristan and occasionally sent some gifts of bucks to Des. The past few months we've communicated by text with her. But we have not gone to visit.

Desiree is our son's only child. Desiree is 21 now. Tristan had his 3rd birthday this past February.

This past Christmas season Des's mom and step-dad moved from Oklahoma to Arkansas and did not invite Des to go with them. We've learned recently that Des and her mom aren't on good terms, which is part of the reason for the lack of an invitation to move with them. Can you imagine getting your daughter to move to the Midwest and then moving away from her. I'm appalled, and yes, I'm being too honest!

So during this past New Years holiday Des went to visit a girlfriend in Florida who is in the Coast Guard. A few weeks later Des was moving there. We think that situation lasted about two months because her girlfriend discovered that having a 3-year-old in the apartment was a lot of work.

So Des headed back to Oklahoma in late February and is living with one of her cousins. She has indicated to us that she'd like to be back in California. When she revealed that I just politely told her that her mom seems to have tremendous sway on her when she is with our side of the family. If you are thinking that we are one of those weird, crazy, mixed-up, dysfunctional families, you're right.

So we think Des probably hasn't accomplishmented much this past year, academically or career-wise, but I do think she has done some growing-up and maturing in the School of Hard Knocks, which is better than no school at all.

So despite all the messiness of life, we are just thrilled to have 12 days to enjoy Tristan and Desiree and hopefully be a positive influence in both of their lives.

So we're on countdown. Dorrit, thank you for asking in yesterday's comment about Tristan. I've just been quietly embracing this excitement and hardly believing we're really going to get to see them.

That's it for this Thursday at just after four o'clock. If you've read this far, you are amazing. Thanks for looking in.
Rosie (& Mr. Fun), aka Carol