The Parents are coming! The Parents are coming!

My parents arrive today and I'm happily anticipating their arrival. It's their annual trip for what I refer to as Senior Spring Break. Since their house in on the market and their future plans are to move here, this may be my last year hosting them for a month. I think we all hope this will be their last "visit" before becoming residents in town.

I am surprisingly calm this year. Normally, I wrap myself up in a flurry of home improvements, spring cleaning and meal preparations that keep me up until the wee hours of the morning just before their flight lands. Working 2 jobs (I was hired on as permanent part time after my seasonal sales associate stint from November to January at Macy's) has left me little time to keep up with my own laundry, let alone multiple "to do" list projects - so perhaps that is the key, not having enough time to think about what you'd like to do before company arrives.

I did carve out some time to pot a few pansies and 2 small rosemary plants with pretty pale blue flowers in my garden, to give my patio a touch of spring color. If the unseasonal rain finally stops, they should be able to enjoy the normally dry and sunny outdoors expected in the Arizona desert.

Growing up, we lived close to our grandparents, aunts, uncles & cousins. We saw them often and you simply learn to take seeing family for granted. That is, until you move. Having made the move 6 years ago from a life centered in the Eastern United States, moving to Arizona is like another world. The climate is so different, there is no ocean, and for me - no immediate family. Telephone calls and e-mails help to keep me in touch with family members, but is not the same as seeing them more than once a year. So, I am looking forward to the time when my parents are just around the corner and spending time with them on a Saturday, or popping in for a free home-cooked meal (yes, Mom, that's what I'm most looking forward to!) after work is an experience I cannot wait to enjoy.

So, here's to the parents! May this truly be their last visit as out of towners.