S.O.S.

Contrary to what we would normally believe about the beginning of Ordinary Time, this is the Summer of Shifts. There is very little that is ordinary about summer 2008. We are all shifting from one place to another, juggling between jobs, shuffling between houses/apts/condos, or schlepping boxes from state to state. We are Shifting Our Stuff. We are Stuffing Our Selves into neat little boxes to travel from old place to new place, from one place to different place.

My parents are selling our stuff that we used to store in the garage in the TX house so that they can move to MI this July. My siblings are moving away from CA as well. New jobs, new houses, new communities, new responsibilities. We anticipated something happening, but not so suddenly and not all this at once.

I'm the one remaining behind in little, ol' Berkeley. I'll be moving into a new place, but it's not the same kind of "shifting" -- moving one block over is not quite the same as shifting into the midwest.

I begin to think about how we are responding to this summer of shifting. My parents -- especially my mother -- have begun talking with greater urgency, dropping less and less implicit hints that I should move away from CA. My sister is ever the diplomatic one who always precedes every suggestion of moving to St. Louis with the comment "it's up to you, but it wouldn't be a bad idea..." My brother? He's high-tailing out of Berk as fast as the job market will let him into Gr Rapids. My boss? He's making sure I've acquired enough friends in the Bay Area to secure my presence here -- at least until he retires (then I can go anywhere I wish, he says. Gee, thanks, D!).

I am conflicted. And I worry. I worry about the state of the sister living by her lonesome self. I worry about the brother getting a new job. I worry about the parents taking up a large church again. I worry that I won't know what to do with my own apartment again. I worry that I will become too comfortable. I worry that I will go batty with the silence and isolation. I worry that I will be distracted out of seriousness. I worry about being undisciplined. I worry about too much partying. I worry about having too much fun. I worry about worrying too much.

Excitement builds up and I can't wait for all of us to take up our new locations, try on our new selves in these new areas. Regardless of how we've managed in years past, these are all new phases in our lives. This is the summer that we start out fresh.

Then, anxiety and sadness set in. The Tran Clan disperses once more into the three regions. We once again have to juggle who is visiting whom and when will calendars match or conflict. We will now rely on the phone and email to stay in touch -- and probably more so now that we'll be living apart.

This is the summer of change. Shifts. Transformations. Let it be a blessed summer.

Let the wild rumpus start!!!