Yesterday I dropped Grace at the airport, she has a full time job now, with limited time off.

Grace had only been here a grand total of 6 days before she had to go back north to Pittsburgh… this was her first Christmas home AFTER college, and her college breaks the last few years would give her a very casual 3 weeks back in Florida.

This past Sunday Grace and I went to the beach, then had a nice lunch in Tarpon Springs… we also stopped at a nursery to look at plants, at Grace’s behest. Grace is really into plants.. on past trips home she went around to neighbors, asked them for tropical plant clippings, then took the clippings north to Pittsburgh and sold them for hundreds of dollars!

Grace always plants stuff in my gardens, everytime she comes home, and gets mad at me if anything dies in the months she’s gone. This kid!

Grace was home for 2 months in the Spring of 2020, when Covid shut down Carnegie Mellon and the entire planet hit the PAUSE button. Grace helped me repaint the living room, we went to St. Pete to look at murals… it was a weird time, even a turtle wandering across the street was exciting:

After I dropped Grace at the airport yesterday I realized how little time we really have with our kids once they become adults, and that’s when time really starts to accelerate… I know that when I was in my 30’s and lived 1,000 miles away from my parents I only saw them twice a year.

Mom and Dad live here in Wesley Chapel now, so I see them all the time. We go to the same wild ‘n crazy Methodist church… which is full of folks in Mom and Dad’s generation. Church for them is also their social circle.

Grace just turned 22 this week, so Mom and Dad were there to celebrate with me, Claire and Grace.

I know that Pittsburgh is where Grace needs to be right now, she has a great job up there, she just moved into a nicer place with better roomies… and her degree from Carnegie Mellon will open doors for her, especially in the Northeast.

There are cheap flights from Tampa to Pittsburgh on Spirit, so Grace comes homes every three months or so, especially during the winter months!

She’ll probably buy some plants next time she comes home.

Ben Alexander

December 29 ::: 2021