What is that strange, bright thing in the sky?

Oh, I know! It's Helios in his chariot. Duh!

Seriously, it's supposed to be pretty nice today - partly cloudy, highs in the mid-60's. I can live with that. Oldest Son and his family are staying at The Daughter's house. They're all going up skiing today. Should be perfect up there.

The Daughter-in-law really wants to move to town. I guess she's tired of living in the city, and since everything they love to do is here - jet ski, ski, go to the beach, visit family - it makes sense to LIVE here. They both sell property and casualty insurance, so can pretty much work from anywhere in the area - Spokane, Coeur d'Alene, Post Falls, or Sandpoint - so that won't be an issue. What is an issue to Oldest Son and Granddaughter 1, is basketball. Granddaughter 1 is an avid (even rabid) basketball player. She has been playing since she was 7 or 8. She's now nearly 13. She plays AAU basketball year round. She is now playing junior high basketball as well. The level of competition here, well, in all of North Idaho, leaves a lot to be desired. Our high school girl's basketball team finished 2 and 20 last year. Oldest Son finds that problematic. But the reality is, Granddaughter 1 will probably not play basketball much beyond 9th grade in Spokane unless she gets dramatically better, and grows about 5 inches. Moving here is a quality of life decision. Basketball should not be the deal breaker or maker. Daughter-in-law is frustrated. They have a 4 year-old too. The decision has to be what's best for all of them, not just GD1.

At the mere mention of moving here, GD1 gets emotional. Last night, she went crying from the room. I found her and told her, "don't cry about it now. It's all just talk so far. When they start packing up your bedroom, then you can cry." She laughed. I harassed her for not being thrilled that she could come visit me every single day if she wanted to if they lived here. She laughed a little at that.

I know what she's feeling. We moved constantly when I was a kid - a new school and town every year from 1st grade through 6th grade. I'm convinced my dad was/is ADD. He'd get bored with his job, and we'd move. When I was a freshman in high school, he announced we were going to move from Santa Maria, CA to Williams, CA. At first I cried. Then I got used to the idea and kind of got excited (I'm one of those silver lining kind of people). Williams would be in the mountains with trees, snow, and cool stuff like that (I was a kid who'd never even seen snow falling from the sky). It never panned out, and I was actually disappointed. The next year my parents divorced. I wondered for a long time if things would have been different had we moved to Williams.

I think moving here would be really good for Oldest Son's family for a lot of reasons. They really could stand to spend more time with the family and get out of the city and all its distractions. They could really stand to play a lot less basketball. But those are decisions they'll have to make. This isn't the first time they've looked into moving here. It probably won't happen. I'm not getting my hopes up, and I'll encourage GD1 not to worry - yet.

Now I have to go make my bed. Lorraine made me feel guilty.