Well, this was a crazy weekend.....

I got home from work on Friday night and I thought the two craziest things that were going to happen would be having to go to the cable company to return some equipment and trying to figure out where I was going to fit 8 people sleeping in my house Sunday night when I have 3 beds and only 2 of the people are in a romantic relationship with each other. 

I just changed all of my TV and internet stuff to a new company because after having my house re-wired twice by my previous provider, my internet would still go out several times per week requiring me to unhook everything from the router and modem, unplug everything, get it all hooked up and turned on again, reboot my computer and it was making me insane.  I had been with the previous provider since about 1987 through college apartments, post-college apartments, my apartment while I was married, my apartment after I got divorced, and in my house I'm in now.  So this was kind of a big deal for me and I felt like I had gone through a breakup when I called them last week to cancel my service.  I then canceled another service today which I've had for almost 7 years so now I feel like crying and eating chocolate because of all the breaking up I've been doing.  I told them it's you, it's not me so that was kind of different than most break ups.  But still.  Breaking up is hard to do. 

Saturday morning I planned to drive to the cable company's office down by the airport which is about 20 minutes from my house and return my equipment, then come home and maybe work in my yard if it would stop raining here in Atlanta for at least 30 minutes so that I could then spend Sunday cleaning my house, washing sheets, and getting ready for squeezing everyone in my house overnight.

Only that is not exactly how my weekend went. 

I got home from work on Friday night and my fake daughter didn't get home from work until almost 9:00.  She told me the family she's been working for owns rental properties and they had taken her to see an apartment that just became available.  She said she liked it okay, that they told her when another apartment becomes available in one of their properties in a nicer area they will allow her and my fake boy to move if they want to (which made me wonder just what kind of area this apartment is in), and that they were putting new carpet, new flooring, and doing a lot of painting because the previous tenants didn't take such great care of the place.  I questioned her about several things including some things that are really important to their specific situation which I'm not going to disclose on here and she quickly admitted that a whole bunch of stuff was not exactly worked out in detail pertaining to their situation.  But she kept insisting that she wanted them to move to this apartment. 

I reminded her that all they had at that point were the clothes they moved here with and she said the apartment is not furnished.  So I asked her, "do y'all plan to sleep on a bag of clothes?  And what do you plan to cook in/on or eat in/on?  You have no dishes, no pots or pans, no silverware, no glasses, no beds, no pillows, no sheets, no blankets, nothing to sit on, no shower curtain, no broom or mop to clean with, no vacuum cleaner, no nothing.  You have clothes and flip flops and a bicycle and that is all you own in the world and that is not going to be fun to survive on."

We sat and made a very specific list of all the basic stuff they would need and then we discussed how much all of this was going to cost and I suggested a couple of places we could start looking.  I also told him that since I'm almost 45 years old, I have accumulated a whole bunch of crap over the years and probably had duplicates of a lot of stuff so I would start going through my kitchen and pulling stuff I can certainly stand to spare and that I had a set of dishes I've been trying to get rid of for years which they could have.

Then I made the mistake of suggesting that sometime soon we should go to Ikea because it's inexpensive and a great place for people who are starting from scratch and that is how I ended up going to the cable company and then spending 5 hours in Ikea on Saturday afternoon which my stupid plantar fasciitis loved so much.  So much.  When the fake daughter asked if we could go, we both thought the fake son would go as well and I was prepared to take my Kindle and sit somewhere while the two of them walked around because my feet are so screwed up.  Only he decided to go play soccer all day and since Ikea is gigantic and it was crowded, I felt I should walk with her.  And now my feet are in excruciating pain.  Amen.

She bought a couple of mattresses and because they are from Ikea they came rolled up like burritos and wrapped in plastic as only Ikea can manage to do, and a whole bunch of other basic stuff and we boxed it up when we got home and put it in my garage and I knew it would sit in there for a while so I could go through my house and figure out what I can donate to their apartment, until they really got this apartment stuff figured out and made sure it was going to work with their specific issues they need it to work with, figured out how to get utilities hooked up without any credit history, and signed a lease, etc.

And we all went to bed Saturday and honestly I was awake half of the night worrying about whether or not I've done a good enough job and if I've taught them enough to live on their own in a new-to-them country and then trying to convince myself to stop worrying so damn much (I am a huge worrier and have been all of my life) because they are not my kids and it's not my responsibility and knowing they are going to make mistakes and that's how you learn the most important lessons in life but at the same time wanting to throw my arms around them and protect them like a mama bear even though I'm not their mama.  And then I understood just the tiniest bit how it must feel to actually have children.

We got up Sunday morning and they helped me clean the house and we all washed our sheets and blankets to get ready for all of my family who were coming to stay at my house Sunday night, and they were trying to help me figure out who could sleep where, and then they told me they were going to walk up the street to a shopping center and that they'd be back in a while.

They came back home around 4:30 and I was still cleaning my bedroom and had to take a shower, and my fake daughter said, "okay, I'm going to start packing our clothes up now."  And I said ?????????? 

She told me the owners of the property had texted them while they were at the shopping center up the street and said they could go ahead and move in so she had called a friend of theirs and the friend said she could come over after she got off work and move their stuff for them in her van.  By 6:00 when my mom arrived at my house from Texas, they had all of their belongings piled up in my dining room and then my mom and I helped them load it in their friend's van and they were moved out of my house by 6:30 Sunday evening.  I went from wondering if this particular apartment was going to work out for them to them having moved out in a 2 hour period.

And I sat there with my mom at my kitchen island in stunned silence.

Y'all, they did drive me insane a lot of the time but they are good kids and I grew to care about them so, so, so much.  And I want them to be okay.

They moved without knowing if their specific major issue is going to work out for them to live in this particular apartment, they are living there with the owners having the utilities all turned on in their names so if the kids can't get them turned on for some reason I'm not sure what will happen, and they have no signed lease.  I know they are excited to have their own place and I'm glad to have my own place again too.

But I'm aware I could soon receive a phone call that things aren't working out like they hoped and that they need to come back.  And whether y'all agree with me or not, I'd welcome them both back in my home in a heartbeat if they find themselves in a bad situation.

And that was my crazy weekend.

I also talked with Laurie on Sunday and she said she would love to come back to Atlanta for another Atlanta Pie Party this fall.  We kind of decided on sometime in October and I'm happy to host it at my house again if y'all want to get together.  Can y'all throw out some dates in October that would work?  I don't have anything planned that far in advance so I'm totally open at this point.  Laurie and I said we should try to convince June to come down as well.  I have two bedrooms and beds available for them to stay with me now.....