We have chosen a date to leave Connecticut for Kodiak. Either Tuesday, November 30th or Wednesday, December 1st. When we buy our airline tickets this week we will choose one. The time has come.

Our youngest son has decided to remain in CT. My brother and his partner have a detached small cabin on their property and our son will be moving there. He has his cat (Lucy), his friends, his job (currently learning HVAC in the apprenticeship) and his band (music). This was one of the most difficult parts of the puzzle for Deb and me to fit and it is set up to fit very nicely. They are all excited for this, as is my brother's partner's 14y.o. son. Our son who has always been the little brother may now have his own "little brother" (pay back can be rough ;-), and my brother will have his moment to be a guiding force in a child's development in our family, as I don't think my brother will ever be a father. Our son, our baby, is leaving our home this upcoming Friday. He is leaving so well. In connection, loved, and supported. We are thrilled for this. But, at the same time, it has been ripping Deb and my hearts out. This is the natural way of things. Children grow and they leave the nest one day to fly on their own. This is the cycle of life, and the wheel is turning.

There has been a blizzard of activity in our lives, which Deb and I did not write that much of in September. We have attended to our home in CT, and our business relationships. Not very sexy stuff, but very necessary. We have told all of our family members, and thankfully this went well. My brother and his partner are going to throw a going away party for us, so we may have one stop shopping to say goodbye to many of the people in our lives. But I am sure there will still be others who can not come that we will have to say goodbye to one on one. We are selling or giving away many of our things and minimizing our lives across the board. We have accumulated a vast caravan of things over the course of our 27 year marriage, and we inherited the full estate of Deb's mother after she passed several years ago. There is still a remnant of precious things that are too heavy, fragile, or bulky for us to ship to Kodiak. One of the last puzzle pieces is to find a happy home to store them in CT. We have several options with family members to start with and we will figure it out.

We are networking more and more in Kodiak. Deb and our middle son have applied for jobs (which are plentiful) and are in process to obtain them (hopefully with signing bonuses). We will buy a beater (used car) to get through the first winter, but we will not be doing much driving anymore and I can not express how happy this makes me (Deb not so  much ;-). We are looking for a short term rental for the winter and almost daily Deb has been chatting with people involved in real estate on Kodiak. One interesting side note is she has asked them what one thing surprised them about living on Kodiak that they did not expect and there has been a consistent response, "Island Life". In CT there are so many people that one does not place, at times, that much importance on causal interactions with strangers. I have a strong feeling this will not be so on Kodiak with its 13,500 residents. Connecticut and Kodiak are roughly the same geographical size, but there are 3.5 million people who live in CT. Deb and I have lived distanced from much of society in CT for a long time. We are very much fish out of water here (as is our son who is coming with us). We will have to adjust to living on an island where bridges can not be causally burned, and that what goes on around us is important. We can not live so distanced as we have in CT. I wonder what other adjustments that we haven't even considered yet will be in our future? 

But I am so happy to say it is time. 57 days left in CT.

Let's Go!

(pic of Kodiak 9-26-21. Ty to Lynn for sharing this with us.)