Our Austin house is empty.  Our stuff has been driven cross-country and arrived safe in our new home in Seattle.  After packing up and watching the truck drive away, the four of us headed to Houston to visit one of my very best friends and her husband.  They have a one-year-old foster baby plus newborn twins!  It was so fun to get to hold those munchkins and get some face time with that sister.  I pray that one day we’ll end up in the same city again!

Today is day 13 in Dallas staying with my folks.  B spent last week in Seattle unloading our stuff and getting the house ready for us.  Kudos to B’s parents for scrambling to close on a house for us right after we got up there.  It was a long frustrating search, but it’s done.  We’re so blessed that God has provided us with a beautiful house while we’re “roughing it” in grad school.

My sister’s wedding is Saturday.  My dad’s quite accurate description of them is “dumb in love”, and we’re thrilled for them.  As my great-grandfather used to say, “Nothing better than a good marriage, and nothing worse than a bad one.”  We’re confident that this will be in the first category.  It’s fun to watch.  Monkey and Chicken are going to be flower girls, and a frequent topic of conversation is “what do you think the girls will do?”  Who knows, but it will be adorable, regardless.  

Leaving Austin and Texas has been different than we expected.  Our church is going through a major transition, and we left just as the change began.  Our house isn’t sold, or even occupied.  There’s been an unexpected sequence of goodbyes in reverse chronological order.  We said goodbye to our friends from Hope Chapel.  I said goodbye to my college girlfriends, particularly a group of 8 whom I lived with in the infamous “Pecos House”.  I saw a couple of other college friends and a high school buddy who live in the Dallas area.  I’m saying goodbye to people who have watched me grow up in the church my Dad pastors here in Dallas.  And last week, my great aunt died – “Granny Auntie” (pronounced Ain’t-eee) we called her.  Last Sunday, we made the trek back to Malakoff, Texas where my paternal grandmother “Granny Tyler” grew up to say goodbye to Granny Auntie.  

Since Granny Tyler now lives in Dallas with my parents, Granny Auntie really is the last main connection we have with East Texas.  We used to go to Granny Auntie and Uncle Vic’s house every year for the day after Christmas.  My dad is an only child, but there we would see all of our second and third and who-knows-what-you-call-’em cousins.  I forgot how country they are.  I never was very close to any of them, but they’re family, and it’s a part of our family’s history.  My grandmother and Granny Auntie used to teach in the old brick school across from her house.  Probably my favorite part was walking alongside my grandmother as she walked out of the service behind her walker.  She couldn’t take more than one step without a 70ish year old someone stopping her to say, “Do you remember me?”  

“No.”

“I’m so-and-so, and you taught me in the third grade.”

or

“I’m so-and-so, and you were the only teacher to whip me, and my wife says it wasn’t hard enough.”

or

“I’m so-and-so, you were my teacher, and you haven’t changed a bit.”

My grandmother would respond, “well, you have!” with that twinkle in her eye. 

It was good.  It’s as if God has arranged a “Katy, this is your life” for me as I prepare to leave.  I don’t know why, but I’m pretty sure His hand is in it.

Tomorrow morning, my mom and sister and I go to get the requisite manicure and pedicure, or “nose and tails” as we like to call it.  In the evening is the “panty party”.  We have a bridesmaids’ brunch on Friday at the Dallas Arboretum, and then rehearsal and dinner that night.  The wedding will be brief and to-the-point, “shoes optional”, with a jazz piano and bass accompanied cake and ice cream reception at the church.  They’ll drive off on the groom’s Harley.  

Next Tuesday morning at 8am, we fly to Seattle.  The minivan will meet us there.  We’ll paint and set up house.  We’ll look into gymnastics classes for Monkey and get going on music classes.  We’ll begin the great church hunt.  We’ll try the farmer’s market.  We’ll meet the neighbors and get to know the ‘hood.  I’ll hit the sale at the Hanna Andersson outlet (we’re dangerously close!).  Some sweet friends are throwing a welcome party for us with all of B’s old church buddies.  I’ll get to join in on K & K’s mom’s night out.  We’ll be in the thick of a large, close-knit Chinese family.  We’ll soon find out just how inappropriate our Texas wardrobes are for the Seattle climate.  Brian will start classes.  And life will be very different.  It’s an adventure.  Our good Father has gone ahead of us, and we can trust Him.