Luke's final semester of college begins tomorrow. This is very exciting because he has worked very hard and is very ready to be done, but there is a lot of work to be done in order for him to graduate and commission. His classes are going to be demanding and difficult. This semester Luke wanted a dedicated study space where he can spread out his books and papers, make phone calls, and not be distracted or be distracting.
The best work space has been the dining room table. But since it is the dining room table, Luke had to pack up all his books, papers, laptop, etc to make room for every meal. Another disadvantage of the dining room table is its proximity to the piano room, where Linda teaches piano lessons. The lessons distract Luke's concentration and Luke's phone calls distract the lesson. In addition, when siblings have lessons on the same day, one does homework at the dining room table while the other has a lesson. Now there is competition for space, not to mention the awkwardness. Other times the parents accompany the student and do their own work at the dining room table. Again, competition for space, but there's also the danger of Luke and the parent ending up in a conversation which prevents any and all hope of studying.
The family room is also inconvenient. It is still close to the piano room and does not block the noise from piano lessons. There is no large work space; Luke sits in an arm chair with his laptop on his lap. That basement successfully blocks piano lessons, but there isn't much of a work space there either, and Luke again ends up in a chair or on the sofa with his laptop.
Since this final semester is going to require a lot of focus, organization, and dedication, we decided to clean out the mountain of boxes from the future kitchenette space in the basement and bring my computer desk that has been in my dad's dining room since 2004. It would be the perfect study space: plenty of work room, lots of light, fully separated from piano lessons, and Luke can leave books and papers out for as long as he wants.
Moving the boxes and sorting through the things, junk and stuff took just under a week. It was a good purging project that sent unusable junk to the garbage, unused things to Goodwill, and relocated personal stuff to a new home in the storage room.
Today we moved in the desk. I know my dad is very happy to see it out of his house, and to have full use of his own dining room again. I also am glad that it can once again be put to good use, and I know Luke will appreciate his new study area.
But I am struggling with being happy for Luke and sad for myself. We have been discussing more seriously about what needs to happen to a) build our house this year or b) move into an apartment while it is being constructed. Luke has said very plainly that "we are moving out this year." Which is great, obviously I'm all for it. But today a very large piece of furniture was brought into our temporary living arrangement, which I can't help but feel further solidifies the permanence of living in my in-laws' basement.
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