Back at the end of September, something wonderful happened…
Our niece Jessie came to live with us.
She started attending college about 45 minutes from where we live but the housing she had lined up didn’t pan out. She called us about a week after school started and asked if she could stay with us.
Although I was super excited about having her come, I felt completely and utterly unprepared to have a teen move in. Captain Cavedweller and I went from never having a child in our house to having one who’d just turned 18 and only had her driver’s license two weeks!
One of the first things we did after Jessie moved in, was sit down together and go over expectations – what she could expect from us and what we expected from her.
What I never anticipated, what came as such a welcome surprise, is what an unexpected blessing this beautiful, smart, completely awesome girl has been to us.
She is such a sweetheart, so thoughtful (she calls to let us know when she’s heading home, if her plans changed, if she’s running late), and so fun. I find myself awaiting her return each evening, eager to hear all about her adventures of the day.
I also find myself making lunches, worrying if she’s eating healthy when she skips dinner with us, and if she has enough gas money. The night she had to drive home late in a bad fog, I sat watching the clock from the moment she called to say she was on her way until I thought she should be home. Ten minutes past the time she should have arrived, I started getting really anxious. When she was twenty minutes late, I started putting on my shoes so Captain Cavedweller and I could go find her. Before we could leave, she walked in the door, relieved to be home after taking a wrong turn in the fog and having to backtrack.
When the day comes that Jessie is ready to make other housing arrangements, I’m pretty sure I’ll be a blubbering mess.
In such a short time, this girl who has always held a huge place in our hearts, now has a big place in our home. A place we both are so happy and blessed to share with her.
