Saying goodbye

On Saturday our household shrank from five down to three residents. We took Rio to the North to study to become an engineer, and her boyfriend was left behind to live full-time at his parents' home, instead of staying several nights a week with us.

We'll miss them both. Moonface was tearful as we bade goodbye to Rio in her hall of residence, leaving her to settle in and make friends for her new life. But at home, waving off Jason was difficult emotionally. Both Moonface and I really like him - he's a nice lad, good mannered, conversational and (Moonface tells me) handsome as well. What we couldn't know, and what we couldn't say, is that we didn't know whether we were waving goodbye to him for the few months until Rio returns at Christmas, or forever if the couple split up. And, let's face it, that's fairly likely. Both Moonface and I left boy- or girlfriends at home when we left for university, and both of those relationships ended afterwards. Rio and Jason have been courting longer than we were, I suppose, which makes the outcome harder to predict. Two years is a long time at their ages.

So we shall wait and see, and hope for the best - whatever that is.


:¬/