The kids moved out.

SO, after a year, of having my darling daughter, her insipid boyfiend, and her beloved cat, at my house, I demanded that they leave by August 1. They got an apartment, they moved in, and last night, was the first night alone in my house in a year. It was AWESOME.

I let them come, because I will ALWAYS let my DD come, stay and be welcome. It was the boyfriend that was so damned hard for me. I could not imagine how much having a guy in the house would interrupt my life, invade my privacy and literally drive me nuts. I could not imagine how a young man could be so fully unprepared for life. He almost electrocuted himself, trying to play with my circuit breakers. He screwed up the plumbing, by attempting to use a snake, not understanding whatsoever what one was used for. He couldn't wrap brown paper around a package. These seem to me, to be basic things that a kid should know. Not a boy, a kid. My DD knows EXACTLY what a snake is, how dangerous a circuit breaker can be if you touch the wrong spot, how to wrap ANYTHING. She knows so much more than that, because I believed that those were life lessons that she needed to know.

I admit, she knows more than the average kid, but I had to do more than the average Mom. I was a single parent for her entire life, and we never had very much money. I had to make do, I had to fix things, I had to replace toilets. She saw me do all of it, and I taught her how. My biggest compliment lately, was when she told me that someone at her new awesome job, asked how she knew how to do so many things. She told me she told her boss, "I have a single Mom", as though that answered every question. It doesn't, but it made me VERY happy.

I love my quiet, I loved the time getting to know my DD as an adult, love the heck out of her cat, and hope she doesn't get married to ANYONE for a number of years. I told her, finally, yesterday, how I felt, and amazingly, she agreed. I raised a smart, and now, independent kid.

Spark on.