I'd Like A Pony Please...

Random picture of my best friend, because you all haven't seen him in a while.


What a wonderful weekend. While Saturday didn't turn out exactly sunny it was nice and warm but with a thin cloud cover that just never really burned itself off. Sunday was warm and sunny and perfect. I didn't get a lot of my own planting done but was able to go over to my Mom's and help her get her deck containers sorted and planted so that's one annual task out of the way. Before tackling that, Mom and I had brunch at the Lake Route Cafe. I had the low-cal (not) eggs benedict because clearly I'm trying for a life time personal best in weight gain this year.

Mom and I were talking at brunch about my sister and her family. Sis & BIL both got laid off from their jobs in the resort industry last winter. They worked for the same company. This same company that relocated them to Florida about 2 years ago. Poor guys are now sitting in a very large home down there they is starting to look next to impossible to sell. They're both looking for jobs back here in Seattle (sounds like BIL has found one) with an eye to moving back home. My niece has been up here for the last year because she didn't like FL and it was her senior year in high school and she wanted to be with her friends.

The conversation made me regret opening my big fat mouth a few posts back about not really feeling the effects of the economic slow down. They're having a tough time all the way around. My poor sister is sick of living in a house that she needs to keep in realtor showing cleanliness for realtors and potential buyers that never come around. The easy solution for them is to leave the house there basically furnished and move back home and get on with life. What really surprised me was that they're planing to move in with my Mom for a while. I know there's nothing new about "boomerang kids". Well, ok we're all a bit old to really fall under that category, but you know what I mean. What really threw me was that my BIL, the lone republican standout in a family awash with die-hard liberals is actually willing to live with his mother-in-law! Don't get me wrong, we all love my BIL, but if that poor guy is willing to do that, even for a short time, clearly things are worse than I thought.

I'm being somewhat silly about this but later I got to thinking about my niece. I really feel sorry for her. She's a great kid. Never been in any kind of trouble. She's very athletic, a jock really. She's been on the top soccer teams in the local leagues all through school. Just an all around great kid. What I worry about is they lifestyle she was raised in. I know for myself that my mother spoiled us quite a bit. I never realised it growing up but when it came time to live on my own it hit me between the eyes. The day's of salon haircuts and designer clothes were over for a while. My standard of living took a giant step down when I moved out of home.

I wonder if this post is ever going to make a point? Well, carrying on....

Anyway...
As I pulled away from Mom's my niece and her boyfriend pulled up in his new BMW. (high-school kid, driving a BMW...) What kind of shock are those kids in for? How are they going to be able to adjust to a new way of living. I don't think for a second their situation is unique. I know it isn't, we've got another young lad 'working' for us who was raised in a life style far above what his means will be as a lone adult. I wasn't at all shocked when the kids was 'sick' for a week after his Mommy bought him a brand new truck!

Maybe this is just the way life is. Maybe all kids and parents go through this to some degree. Is it the same as adults always thinking the music their kids listen to is garbage? generation after generation? Is it just one of those universal things or has something changed in the last couple of generations?

This is one of those posts that I should really go back and edit or possibly re-write/re-think but that's how I end up not posting for a week. I think I'll just hit publish and then go outside and play in the sun!