Monday, March 8, 2010

Jacob's Summer Home

Jacob is making plans to leave me for another woman!

Actually, his former SADD Club sponsor, Michelle (seen above with Jacob), has invited Jacob and his friend Kyle to spend the summer living in a trailer on her farm in Snowflake.  Jacob and Kyle will help Michelle and her husband Jimmy irrigate crops, harvest hay, care for their horses, and tackle other farm tasks.  (That's Kyle's mom, A'Lece, at left.)

While we were in Snowflake for Sarah's concert on Saturday (Kyle is also in the symphony orchestra as a bass player), A'Lece and I decided to stop by and tour the accommodations where our sons plan to live during the month of June.  This is the trailer where the two boys will stay, although they will eat meals in the house with Michelle and Jimmy.  It's on a wind-swept hill in the high desert surrounding Snowflake.

The trailer is small, but very nice inside.  There's no television reception, but Jacob hopes to buy a cheap, used TV to watch movies and play video games on.  He and Kyle have been great friends for years, but I wonder if this much closeness will get old after a month!  I suppose it will be good practice for living with a companion when Jacob goes on his mission later this year.

 Jacob and Kyle's younger brother Marcus try out the big bed in the small bedroom.  I teased Jacob, asking him if he and Kyle would be sleeping together.  He assured me firmly that Kyle had agreed to sleep on the couch that makes into a bed!

The boys made it sound like the trailer was very far from the main house.  A'Lece and I both pictured a long, desolate hike from the house to the trailer, with our sons alone in some secluded area.  Not quite!  I took this picture of Michelle's house while standing next to the boys' trailer. 

Dylan and Jacob visit with 2 of Michelle's 4 horses.  The boys look forward to horseback riding as well as long rides on the family's quads.  Michelle invited the rest of us to come horseback riding this summer.  That's one of my favorite activities, so we just might take her up on it!

Jacob's original plan was to spend the entire summer in Snowflake, but I put the kabosh on that.  We're used to having him gone all summer, since he lived and worked at Camp Geronimo near Payson (2 hours away) during the summers of 2007 and 2008, but this summer is different.  It will be our last summer with all 4 of us together before he leaves to serve a 2-year mission for our church, probably in August.  I want to preserve some of our family time.

So I established some guidelines.  First, Jacob can stay in Snowflake from June 1-30 only.  He graduates from high school on May 20, and then he can spend the next 11 days with his family, as well as helping with summer cleaning before he leaves.  When he returns at the end of June, we'll have only 9 days to prepare to leave for our vacation in Colorado.  Jacob can help with that, plus assist with a yard sale I'd like to hold before we head out.

Second, he and Kyle must return home every Saturday night so they can attend church with their families on Sunday.  This is especially important as Jacob makes his final preparations to depart on his mission.  Michelle and her husband have been very supportive of these requirements.  Although they are not LDS, they do respect the importance of our beliefs. 

I admit I'm not too thrilled with Jacob's plan, but I understand his desire to test the waters of living on his own before he heads out into the wide world.  I have to let him try his wings. 

I love being a mom, but the hardest challenge is letting go.

1 comment:

Grandma Honey said...

Good for you to only allow the one month. A little freedom is a good, but you don't want to let go of your kids any sooner than you have to. I think it's also great to have him back for the weekends during that time. You and I are on the same page.