Friday, August 10, 2012

Today my daughter leaves with her boyfriend to go on vacation in Arkansas for the weekend.

She told me a few months ago that she was glad that I was OK with her sleeping with her boyfriend. She said that it meant a lot to her. I replied calmly "Oh, I am not, but you are an adult and you will make your own decisions". Not being blind I had already guessed that they were "together", if you know what I mean!

Her boyfriend is a fine young man. I could tell when she was 16 which way the wind was blowing, but we just reminded her that she was not allowed to date adults. He is somewhat older than she is. They both accepted that they could not date at that time. It might have helped that they did not live in the same city: they met at an anime' convention and mostly talked on the phone and on-line.

 Then she turned 18 and they started dating, because then they were both adults.

She is now 19, and if they are still an item next year I suspect that they will get married. I am just guessing, of course, but then again I am not blind. She is not ready to get married yet: she only got her first real job! But, give it a bit. Young women do grow up!

He is a fine young man, and a couple of years ago he warned us that she was having mood swings but covering them up. She was indeed, and we got her medications changed. There is a fair amount of common sense in that young man!

(I do not recall if I had mentioned this, but my daughter is bipolar. A lot of criminals CLAIM to be biplar to get lighter sentences, but they lie. My daughter has never been in trouble with the law: is the real thing. She gets large mood swings, and if they are neglected she CAN hallucinate. So, the LAST things she should be doing is to "tough out" any major mood swings. Because he was an adult he realized this: because she was only 16 she convinced herself that she could tough it out and hid the symptoms from us, but not from her peer group. So, he called us.)

Oh, about my daughters new job! She has been doing a good deal of the housework around here, because she needed the money and I needed the help, and she wangled that into a housekeeping job! It is only part time, but in a recession jobs first-time are hard to get, and she is very excited about it! She will work with a team, and she very much enjoyed her first few days at work!

So, now I am teaching my son the ropes: he is 18 and unemployed. He is, as I write this, carrying the laundry down the stairs to put into the washing machine. After both kids move out, I think that I will need a small washer and dryer upstairs, but for now my son is doing the laundry as part of his housekeeping job. And, DD is giving me 2 hours of work a week to cover her room and board.

I have told them both that adults work for their livings, and they both have accepted this. So, they both pitch in a couple of hours a week because they are adults, and they work more (at $5 an hour) for their pocket money.

When DD applied for the housekeeping job, she said that she was working for 12 hours a week at $5 an hour as a housekeeper for her handicapped Mother, which was accurate enough! When the lady asked if her getting a different job would put her Mother in a bind, she replied "No, now my brother is being taught how". Yes, young women *DO* grow up!

Well, enough for now! This is not a very homesteady (letter? writing? article?), but, I have not had time to homestead this week. Last night I picked 3 tomatos and another small melon: that has been about it for homesteading this week!



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