Today my parents are closing on a condo / townhouse that is for retirees. They will be moving from central coast of California, an incredibly gorgeous place, back to the foothills of Colorado. They have not yet sold their house in California, but it is a lovely bungalow in a highly desirable area and I have no doubt it will sell quickly.

I am very excited for them to be moving back to Colorado, het sad that they are leaving such a beautiful place to live. But they will now be one plane ride away from me, versus three separate legs. They will be a brief four hour drive from my brother and his family. They will be near dear friends. They will be living in an environment more conducive to my mom's allergies, asthma and arthritis.

It is going to be the first time in my dad's life - since he was 5 years old - that he will not be working. I wonder how he will do. I wonder if he will drive my mom nuts. I wonder if he will further develop his wood working hobby.

I wonder if this is going to be a happy move for them. I hope with all my heart that they are sublimely happy here. They are not retirement age, at least not in my mind, but Mom will be 60 this year and Dad turned 60 last year. They have always "adopted" older people and taken them under their wings as another set of parents. So I hope that they will not think of themselves as being 20 years older than they really are. That was an issue for them in their small town community in CA. So many retirees there that it skewed their vision of themselves and made them think they were older than they were.

In the end, I cannot wait to go visit them in Colorado. Have I said how much I love mountains?