She's baaaack!

I don't know how much I've blogged about this in the past (I'm thinking not at all), but most of my readers hear bits and pieces of the Mom Drama via e-mails or phone calls or because they know her/us in real life.

So, when we moved back to the Hills in February, my mom joined us. It was quite an adventure for her... the first time she'd ever lived anywhere other than the Free State. And because we arrived here late one snowy night in February, her first impressions of the Ohio Valley weren't exactly favorable. It was cold, snowy, and very, VERY hilly (when you are not "from" the Hills, the Hills are a huge shock to the system... and to your car when you drive a rollerskate... Mom does).

Mom suffered through a couple of very cold, very snowy, very hilly months with us. And I was impressed that she "stuck it out." Really. She even moved out of our way-too-tiny-for-five-people house and got her own apartment at the bottom of our hill... super convenient to have Grandma only 1 mile away and super nice for all of us to have "our own" space again.

She also had her driver's license changed and registered her car here (things Nick and I still haven't done because we're slackers... oh, and we're poor, too). So, Mom became an official resident of the Hills even before we did.

And then, one glorious day, we saw the end of snow (we doubted it would ever happen, trust me!)... and Spring finally sprung in the Hills. It's positively gorgeous here when everything turns green again. The birds sing constantly and there's always a nice, refreshing breeze, no matter how God-awful hot it gets. It's our own little Paradise, kinda.

Then, after months of getting settled here in our little corner of Paradise (kinda), Mom decided to take one day off from work and go home for a visit. Uh oh. I had a feeling that her "visit" would turn into something else... because I knew she was homesick, missing the ocean, and wondering, quite often, what the Hell she was doing here.

So, we said goodbye and, although she promised the kids she'd see them in three days, I knew better.

Fast forward about two months... and Mom is back in the Hills. To stay... for now.

Last weekend, she came back here to empty her apartment and officially move back to the Free State. But, surprisingly enough, she found that she has a life of sorts here. She has her own, cute, little apartment and things are just more "manageable" in the Hills (plus she missed us... who wouldn't?!?!). So, she decided she wasn't going to pack her stuff and move out... she was going to stay put.

Today, Mom was offered a job (a great job) with the company that Nick recently started working for. Nick heard through the grapevine last week that they were looking for office/accounting help, so like a good son-in-law he thought of Mom and brought home an application for her. Which is pretty funny because Nick and I met 9 years ago when (and because) he and Mom worked at the same place...

Now that she's officially employed, I thought it was safe to announce that "she's baaaack!" For now. Welcome home, Mom!