Emerson and I have often looked forward to the day when our kids would be all grown up. After years of being focused on our children, their needs, and their activities, it's nice to be a couple again. We've had glimpses of this over the years when the boys were at Scout camp or other places. The last little bit has been tough as we have encouraged the boys to look for work and get frustrated when they sleep all day and then wake up just to watch TV and play on the computer. They did make some job search efforts, but it wasn't quite what we expected. Dexter turned 18 and graduated and that led to some interesting discussions of which rules still applied to him now that he was all grown up.
The challenge of dealing with your children once they turn into adults is well known by those who have raised their children. Additional challenges we have faced have been about culture. We did the best we could to raise the boys to appreciate their Navajo culture and respect their elders appropriately, but it doesn't sink in when they grow up away from the culture and surrounded by kids raised differently.
Our latest adventure has begun. Dexter has now moved out of our house. It's hard not to take it personally even though I have watched my friends go through this before. When Dwayne went to Chicago last summer we had some of the same feelings, but we knew in advance that he was leaving. Dexter didn't even give us 24 hour notice. We're still trying to get used to him not being here and we hope he'll discover some appreciation for family during this adventure.
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