Adopted for Life: Rites of Passage

It's the beginning of the end, so to state. Meaning, Austin's now in his last days, literally hours of completing his undergraduate and graduate level college studies at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. In fact, by 10:00 p.m. tomorrow he'll finish his last examination in his just-less-than six year span at the university and then it's hats in the air, figuratively (maybe literally too). There's little rest for the weary though because he's still got so much to do to prepare for the wedding (together with Meagan) and gearing up for his first official post-graduate job in Colorado. There's a gazillion details to consider and take care of, not the half of which I'm sure Victoria or I have a clue about. Things like packing up his stuff, budgeting for the future, closing out collegiate details, establishing utilities at his new home, etc...

For me this all hit "home" the other day when I had to remove him from my insurance plan now that he's no longer going to be a "dependent". Navigating through all of the self-guided internet screens with my insurance carrier and checking him off the medical and dental plans sort of caused me to choke up a bit. In some respects it's like a rite of passage. I mean as long as he's been dependent upon our family for his sustenance (uh, that would be his whole life) he's been linked up to us in more ways that I had imagined. Usually whenever I think about "leaving and cleaving" (cf. Genesis 2:24) I envision it from the perspective of the one leaving and cleaving. But the verbs have an attachment to something else; you can't do either without a connection to another, and that other in this case of "leaving" happens to be Victoria and me. So from the perspective of the ones being "left", it leaves a hole, a vacuum of sorts. We're gaining a beautiful daughter-in-law which helps fill the void, and the peace of knowing that this all is perfectly providential fills in the rest. I'm happily afraid there's going to be a lot of leaving and cleaving going on in the next 60 to 90 days.

We're overjoyed for Austin and Meagan and these new chapters of life they're entering into. A stepping stone from one block to the next will involve us celebrating the completion of Austin's studies with all eight of us in a cottage near Santa Cruz for the next few days. We'll relax and reflect, eat and sleep, hike and explore, and talk and pray.