Monday, August 15, 2022

Today in (My) History

An ordinary Monday for most, today is momentous for me in a couple of ways.

First, as of 2:30pm, I have sold the house we bought in 1983. As I wrote here almost exactly two years ago, I spent my middle and high school era here before renting and then buying the house from my folks over the past five years.

Not that anybody either remembers that I wrote two years ago "I'm gonna stay a while" or would hold me to it, but as they say about mice and men...

I recently decided to shack up with my lady friend (wwoman just doesn't look right), and we bought a place. As such, the old domicile had to go. Rates were rising, so it was touch and go, but it worked out.

And so I bid adieu to a home I've known for just shy of 40 years. Happiness, relief, wistfulness. 


On another note, 21 years and some hours ago, I came home from a night of heavy beer-swilling at the Cowboy Cafe, nodded off for an hour or so, and was awakened by my wife's contraction-induced alarm.  Several hours later, my first child entered the world in our nation's capital. 

Today that child could go into the Cowboy Cafe and legally order a beer.


Makes a man feel old, but all is well. Happy 21st to my Zoë. 


9 comments:

rob said...

happy happy to zoë. we’re six weeks or so from celebrating the same milestone with katy. they should reunite at the first bar they both went to.

Whitney said...

Which would be the Cowboy Cafe?

rob said...

indeed. as noted in the text.

rootsminer said...

Congrats on navigating a strange housing market, and getting a kid to 21. I've got one less than two years away. I think he'll make it, though some days I wonder.

Mark said...

Our 20 year old started cosmetology school yesterday. She finished her AA early by a semester and then came to us and said she didn't want to continue college but rather follow in the footsteps of her grandmother (owns her own salon) and aunt (runs a salon business out of her home). She was never a kid who was going to sit in an office so I was pretty proud that she made the decision that she did. It's a pretty intensive 9 month track but when she finishes she'll be ready to start making real $ long before I did. Parenting win.

Whitney said...

Very nice, Mark. And parental pride like that is killer.

rootsminer said...

I think my 19 year old is torn along similar lines to Mark's oldest. About to start community college, and thinking of learning a trade, but has presently only shown the stamina to work about 20 hours a week at his maintenance job.

I'm trying to make sure he knows that he'd be plying that trade 40-60 hours a week, so he'll probably want to like the work.

rob said...

cut myself shaving so badly this morning that it's unlikely i'll be comfortable shaving for the rest of the week. adulting.

Danimal said...

Congrats Whit. That must come with some wistfulness and optimism at once. Looking to hear more about the new lady friend.

Re college - 2 nephews that most recently graduated h.s. have rejected the notion of college as well. Well, one of them did so after a year. The younger one is working for the older one who works for a social media influencer. The older one is and has been doing well and earning a pretty good living - he's a hustler (as is the younger one, but he's just getting going). He started earning $ by the time he was a sophomore in h.s. and today has over 300k followers on the Insta. They also plan on getting real estate licenses and going into biz together. Both sets of parents supportive, though those of the younger one who just dropped out are more slowly coming on board. It's a new day out there for kids today.