Family Meeting

It's always fun to call a Family Meeting. Because it sounds so official. Because it sounds so mysterious. Because it puts everyone on edge. 

"Why are we meeting?"

"What is it all about?"

"Is this about getting a job?" 

I just love hearing those questions.

Letting them wonder.

Making them wait.

::

We didn't really have to ask Adam where he wants to go for his birthday dinner; we could've guessed without even thinking. He's very consistent. How many restaurants specialize in his favorite meal (breakfast)? 

Go ahead. 

Tell me which one comes to mind first.

Right.

I-HOP!

 

At the International House of Pancakes

So we went out to IHOP for his birthday and we all had breakfast. Eventually. (I won't go into the slow service; they were really understaffed.) It was good. And then we went home and had cake. And it was good, too. And then we all went our separate ways instead of playing games like I thought we would. (Well, I actually had a phone call ...)

Still weird to think how old he is. I remember where I was when I was his age. I'd been in New York for six months, working my first post-college job and meeting a bunch of wonderful, amazing people whom I came to treasure (and still do).

I hope he gets to have fun adventures like that some day!

::

The process of parting out Ruby has begun.

Ruby is the red '98 Subaru Legacy wagon which we got several years ago from a guy at work. We needed a car that the kids could drive to school/work. The car was relatively cheap, mainly due to the fact that the transmission was dying and it had over 350 thousand miles on it. But it ran. Mostly. And it was cheap. Mostly. So I bought it, and the kids drove it. And sometimes I drove it.

Eventually, we had to put money into it for things like brakes, tires, tune-ups, exhaust pipes, and even a new|used transmission.

But we couldn't escape the rust. Every winter, the salt gets worse. The metal corrodes. And it finally gets to the point where the structural integrity of the car is compromised, and it isn't safe to drive anymore.

There are still a lot of good parts on the car. We already traded the nearly brand-new tires from Ruby onto Sapphire (Mary's car), but that doesn't count as a part-out because it still has tires that work. In general, once a part-out begins, the car transitions from "car" to "car-cass", and the process doesn't end until the wrecker comes to the house and takes away whatever can't be used on another car, or sold.

But the exhaust pipes were replaced last year, the engine is still in good shape, the interior is clean. Mary's car is going to get the differential. Serenity is going to get her old fuel pump back. And there's probably some other parts that are still good enough to keep. No point in hauling it off to the junk yard just yet.

My car (SereniToo) needed an exhaust system, as the old one was held together with actual baling wire (but no spit). Several connection points were too far rusted to be held by anything any more, and it was getting ridiculously loud. So I pulled the pipes off Ruby and swapped them into my car. Had a bit of trouble getting a flange gasket, but that only pushed things out a day.

Old Versus New

Now my car sounds good.

But Ruby has reached the point of no return.

Now I've got to figure out where to store all the good parts after I get rid of the bad parts.

::

We invited Deb and Mason over for lunch on Sunday so we could all sit down and have our Family Meeting while Skyping with James and Tabea.

First order of business was FOOD. We grilled bratwurst outside and served lunch buffet-style.

The Boys Buffet

Girls Buffet

After the food, we had The Meeting.

The Meeting was quick and to the point. Cheryl had already prepared a 2-page summary of our talking points. And it boiled down to the following:

* I have been advised of an upcoming layoff which takes effect June 19th. My job will disappear on that day.
* Best-case scenario is that I find a job locally in short order.
* Worst-case scenario is that I cannot find a job locally and we'll have to move.

The thought of possibly having to move away from Grand Rapids is both depressing and exciting. We love living here. We have a lot of great friends. It's a great town. But we have also lived here for 13 years, and we both have the wanderlust. We would like to travel around and see the country (and the world). We wouldn't mind moving back to the West Coast, or any of the places where we have relatives.

It's too early to tell what's going to happen. GE is doing a lot to help me find a new job, either in the company out outside of it. So I'm not worried about that.

But I am going to miss my 5-minute commute to work!

====

Finally, we have Our Graduate.

She's graduating very near the top of her class, so the newspaper wanted to obtain a copy of her senior picture so they could print it in the paper as part of their Top 10 Senior series. They requested a copy of the the picture and provided one of those photo contracts which essentially gives them full reproduction rights to infinity. We sent along the contract to our photographer, who asked to speak with one of their staff because some of the contract language was too ambiguous.

They never replied.

So, thinking on our feet, we had Mary go outside and sit on the front porch and took this little gem:

Mary's "Unofficial" Graduation Portrait

I still can't believe how grown-up she is!