Watching Your Children Mature

Today I came home to my Los Banos home to decorate for the Christmas holiday. My eldest son reserved an Airbnb near our family home and invited me and my companion to spend three days with him and his husband (actually for longer, but my companion is easing into this new family dynamic). I was glad to accept the invitation. They travel to Central California because my son in love's family also lives near Los Banos. It used to be when I was full time here in Central California, they used to split the holidays between our two families. So, since I'll be this way to visit my sons, I figured I would host our Christmas Brunch at the Los Banos Family Home. I actually love when I can do that now, because it makes it easier for everyone who is traveling for the holidays to have a central location rather than everyone having to drive eight or more hours to get to the Bay Area where I also share a home with my companion.

So tonight, my youngest son asked me what I wanted for dinner. Because Thanksgiving just happened, I knew they had left over turkey, so I asked him to make me turkey enchiladas. He did and they were delicious!! Also, he had bought some English Yorkshire Tea and mixed it with a condensed milk mixture and ice and we had delicious sweet tea. It was quite the treat. After all was said and done, I decided since he cooked such a delicious meal, it would be my duty to clean up the kitchen for him. He came into the kitchen and asked me what I was doing and I told him that his father and I had a rule that if someone cooked dinner, the one who didn't would clean up for them. So I told him, it was my pleasure to clean up. One thing I love about my son as he cooks, is that he cleans up after using different pans and dishes -- unlike his father. So clean up after my son's cooking was much easier. I had to unload the dishwasher and reload it and do a couple miscellaneous dishes that I didn't want to put into the dishwasher, because it would be too much bulk.

As I walked into the house earlier today, I could tell that the boys had probably waited until today to clean up the house for my visit. They know one of the first things I threaten them with if the house is not somewhat clean, is that I will be sending a cleaning crew to clean the house to my standard. I still have not followed up on my threat, because I can tell they are trying. Tomorrow we will be working on the floors and dusting. They do pretty good with the surface cleaning stuff. But since I'll be hosting Christmas Brunch, I want the place to not smell of dust. They have filters that pull the dust out of their rooms, but the rest of the house doesn't have those filters and our total house filters need changing. We will be going to Home Depot to get some additional Christmas decorations I want to add and while we are at it, we will be picking up the house filters. Those definitely make a difference when they are changed. I was glad to hear my son suggest that we pick up the house filters.

It was fun to decorate the house for Christmas today with the assistance of my two twin sons. However, I could sense some tension between the two boys, so I told them I don't want them to stress over this and I didn't come here to upset their dynamic. They actually get along so well together. I can tell when I'm here, I kind of put them on edge. I was hoping they could relax and just enjoy our time together. I think I make them uneasy, because as soon as I got here, I had a goal to move things around in order to set up the tree. They don't really like to see me lifting and moving things around. Today, they actually saved my back and arthritis by helping a lot by doing all the heavy lifting for me. Usually when I'm coming home, I'm here to work or organize something. 

I also noticed our front yard looks a little neglected, so I want to spray off our garage door, where I have some sparrows who like to sit above it and you know what birds do best. Also, I noticed an old planter had fallen over into my flower bed, so I want to have the boys help me lift that out tomorrow and put it in the trash. I'm hoping there is still some room. I have a wonderful friend, who helps me keep the lawn maintained, so my neighbors don't get upset when I'm not around -- I don't want them to think negligent renters now live in this house. I also want to do a little Christmas decorating outside the house too, so I'm not the Scrooge house on the street. For years, I've always wanted to have someone come put lights up for me at this house, but never have gotten around to it. So I do some basic daylight decorating that can be seen during the daylight hours and if the boys want to turn on the light on the porch, there will be some decorations adorning the front walkway.

So one thing I love about coming home to Los Banos is that I can see that my sons are maturing and it is fun to watch. I've noticed how they have organized certain parts of the house to meet their needs, especially the kitchen. I've also noticed how wonderfully they are taking care of my 17 years and 4 month old dog Chorizo. I can tell he is a happy dog who is very content with his home surroundings. However, once I get here, he is always so happy to see me and likes to stick around me a little closer. I really enjoy our time together and I get to love on him and pet him. The boys recently also took Chorizo to the vet, because I was concerned with his age and a tumor that is growing on his leg. His leg tumor is benign and because of his age, they think it is best that we don't remove it. Aside from his benign tumor he is rather healthy given how old he is now. He is a bit deaf and has some cataracts happening, but he can still see pretty well. He is also missing most of his teeth, so now he eats wet food only. Today, I was told by my boys that I was not allowed to feed him off my plate as the last time I was here, he got sick after I left. Oops. God has really blessed me with my last two puppies. My dachshund, Queenie lived to be 17 years and 9 months old.

So, this next semester will be my boys last semester and then they will be receiving their bachelor degrees. I am so happy and proud of what they have accomplished. I'm excited to see where God takes them as they start to venture out into the world and explore job opportunities and possible continued education. They have their plans and I've been praying for their plans to come into fruition for them. I know it is a tougher market out there than when I first started my career in 1981 and certainly the recruitment and hiring of employees is way different than when I was a Human Resources Manager from 1991-2014. As we discuss their plans, I'm happy to say they have many options to explore and I just want them to be able to start gaining their experience now that they will be fully educated. They are so blessed to have degrees!! All four of my children will now have degrees. I'm so proud of them and their successes as they achieved each of their goals.