Right at the edge of my earliest memories lies Tooter the Turtle and his friend/mentor, Mr. Wizard the Lizard. A short subject from the Underdog cartoons, this morality tale involved the hapless turtle magically transported by Mr. Wizard to try out and fail at various professions, before being recalled to reality in the nick of time (“Mister Wizard! Mister Wizard!”) through the magical incantation, “Drizzle, drazzle, drozzle drome, time for this one to come home.”
None of this relates to our current situation. And yet, that incantation runs through my mind frequently, as we plan for a new, major, and most welcome change in our homestead household: Aly’s coming home!
Mr. Wizard the Lizard and Tooter the Turtle (Photo: Swiped from the Internet).
Our daughter and only child has reached a new phase in the general plan she’s pursued for the last several years. She spent a year in the city in which she earned her college degree, working in retail while volunteering for archaeological projects directed by her friends and mentors at her college.
Her boyfriend graduated this last week, along with several of their circle of friends. Now that they have all reached that milestone, Aly’s moving on.
Aly will move back home to live with us. She’ll look for work here in Haines, always an iffy proposition, but by living at home, her cost of living will lower to the point where most of what she earns can help pay off her few student loans. After that, who knows? We’ll wait and see. For now, we’re just thrilled that she wants to, and plans to, return to the homestead.
As I say, this follows the general plan she’s foreseen for several years. It is not, and should not be considered, a failure to launch. She has not, like Tooter, made a hash of professional life, she’s merely moving on to the next stage. In the process, she’s returning to the partnership that has created our successful life here off grid.
For me, this comes as a huge relief. I rarely talk about the national and international news on this blog, but it certainly hasn’t been good. The ongoing events in the outside world (read that as the rest of the United States, for starters) do not fill this father with optimism. I will sleep much better knowing that, come what may, our daughter is with us, safer here in our precarious little enclave than she might be in the Lower 48. It is, indeed, time for this one to come home!
Mark,
I am happy for you that you get to have your daughter home again. The world and America is going through some major difficulties and if things don’t change its going to get much much worse. We can’t continue to cater to every group or try to resolve threats through talking about peace. Sometimes a little butt kicking needs to happen.
Its one of the main reasons my wife and I want to live off the grid as much as we can and produce our own food. We both agree that its going to get much worse before it gets better.
Have a great day. Be well and enjoy the sights and sounds of your beautiful land.
And we all look forward to subjecting her to Bad Movie Night.
Angie, I have a feeling she stands poised to take that event in new and worse directions.
Jon, I understand your frustration. I, too, sometimes feel that “a little butt kicking needs to happen.” However, just a bit of sober reflection afterward reminds me that resorting to violence is rarely if ever a good idea–not personally, as we see in the news today, nor internationally. I have to disagree with you there.