Our family is expanding! No, not in the way that increases my waistline!!! I am getting a son-in-law in December! Yep, my daughter’s boyfriend finally popped the question on a Sunday morning in October right before we attended church. He asked her in a super creative way which reflected how they met and something they both love. They are both software engineering majors. She already graduated and he has a year left. That’s how they met, in a class for their major. So his proposal involved writing out the question in programming code on our patio with sidewalk chalk. He used an infinite loop, something that is used in code, to allude to marrying for time and eternity in the temple. Get it, infinite loop = eternity? So clever!

I am feeling bittersweet about the whole thing. I’ve soooo enjoyed having my daughter home since she graduated from college in the summer. But just as the season shifted from summer to fall, a new season arrived for our family. Though some things were like they used to be when she lived with us before leaving for college, some things were different. I’ve loved having her back again for girl talk about hair, Dressing Your Truth and Carol Tuttle Energy Types, jewelry, clothes, friends and food. I’ve loved hearing her play the piano every day like the old times.

It’s been great having her to run errands and chauffeur kids. Then there have been times when I turn around and she’s leaving to be reunited with her fiance. Like every weekend. Then I’m reminded that things are different now. Oh yeah. Her heart has been captured by someone else, and we now are second fiddle to him.  I did the same thing to my family 26 years ago. Things will never be the same.

To quote the immortal Anne of Green Gables:

“Oh why do people have to grow up and get married?”

I know it’s normal and natural and even desirable for this to happen. Such is the way of seasons, growth, and happy family life. It’s still hard. I feel the same way that Gill and Kelly Bates feel about their daughter getting married in this video. I am going to have to get a case of tissues! This is just the beginning of my kids’ all growing up and leaving home for good. At least this makes the reality of having grandbabies closer! I’ve missed having babies in the home.