End of Phase III...

As noted by Sandlin in a recent "Nana" post, we have been proceeding through the phases of Kelsey's transition. Phase I, graduation, was well attended and a lovely experience for us all to meet again as a family, bless you all. Phase II, rotation to Anchorage and car swap went OK. I managed to buzz up the coast with trailer in tow behind Kelsey's Ford Focus while Mom and Kelsey flew to Juneau and picked up the Old Subaru for the drive to Anchorage. They did well, being suitably impressed with the vast wonders of the AlCan highway before arriving in the Anchorage Bowl on Wednesday. I got to Seattle early enough to off-load the trailer to the Barge Company, return the trailer, and buzz over to Spokane a day early. Got a nice Nana visit, unwound some Phone issues, made a visit with the Assessor's office to set the stage for a property tax break next season for Nana, and settled the car issue that we thought might be improved by udgrading to Kelsey's newer vehicle. Turns out that Nana's old Camry is an All-Trac model which will always be a better winter option than the lightweight front-wheel drive option the little Ford presents.

After settling that decision, we dropped the newly washed and waxed Focus with Uncle Wayne, tapped out a Craig's list ad and went up to Anchorage to meet the group for Phase III, acquiring stuff. That mostly constituted getting a Bed and assembling a Knockdown desk for Kelsey's room in her new place. Given her status as an Officially Poor Person with Americorp, she couldn't have landed in a better situation. Her landlord-roomate is a friend of Sam's who just bought her first place, a modest but newly refurbished Condo with an extra bedroom for Kelsey. The roomie has worked for the Army Corp of Engineers for 5 years and seems very solid. Kelsey has a parking spot with a plug-in for her newly installed block-heater. They are both moving in/unpacking today and will have a chance to arrange things just the way they want.

We are back in Juneau, a little frazzled from all the driving, blessed with some beautiful weather, and proud of the accomplishments of all our children. We are starting to see the end of our time in Juneau as closer than ever but we still have much to accomplish here and at work before we get to contemplate Phase Next for ourselves in whatever form that will take. But it was very satisfying to see life moving on for our biggest blessings.....