Different Folks

We have three sons living in Texas.  They live in three different geographical sections of Texas, each about 3 hours apart, and live very different lives and raise their children in very different ways. 

Duane Jr and Brandey are raising twins Ava and Emma, and Alyssa and Coy in the Prairies and Lakes area, surrounded by acres of grasslands and planted fields.

They live in a medium size house on an acre of land,

one quarter of which is corral where they practice their riding skills

for when they enter riding contests.

Their time is divided between home, church where Jr is assistant pastor, and the cross fit gym where both parents teach classes. Jr. runs his own business building cabinets for new houses and remodels and Brandey is a full-time mom.

Jeremy and Jennifer’ kids, Allie and Luke have the run of this sprawling house including attic, basement and two floors.  Jeremy, an engineer, built it, and Jennifer (also a full-time mom) designed it.

Allie and Luke spend most of their time running around their 110 acres of oak and pine forest, sometimes walking, sometimes riding the “Mule”, hunting squirrels, deer and wild hogs in the winter and fishing, boating, and wading in the Sabine in the summer.

swinging on long rope swings, doing tricks on the trampoline,

swimming in their pool (which Jeremy also built),

Jesse and Katelyn, both imaging techs,  are raising Bella on the Gulf Coast.  Their one story house is built on stilts on a small patch of grass on a canal which leads directly to the ocean.  For fun they go deep-sea fishing, watch the big barges come into the intra-coastal waterway,

 

or play in the ocean or on the beach.  Bella’s playground is a short walk down the road within their little community which is surrounded by canals, marshes and low growing bushes, and, inland, cattle pastures.

The Texan’s cousins in Ohio live in a 100 year-old two story house on five acres of grassy yard surrounded by farmland and 3 miles from a large town.  Their parents are nurses, so the kids spend their time between the childcare and home.  Their lives are immersed in sports— attending local pro baseball games, watching football  games on tv, and playing sports through school.

Matt and Beth are raising Jack, Katie, and Mel(anie) in the Bay Area of California in a medium-sized house on a small patch of ground in a neighborhood-watch community.  Their tiny yard is privacy fenced with paving, landscaping, and a small in-ground pool.  They are accustomed to walking or scootering down the street and around the corner a mile to the local city park.  Both of their parents are nurses also, but stagger their time so that one of them is home most of the time. 

Our daughter Stacy and her legal life partner Ruth Ann, also Ohio residents,  are both professional women who run their own businesses via computer.  Both travel extensively for their work and don’t have any children. 

We enjoy visiting all of our grandkids:  the rural Ohio sports players, the California yuppies, the Texans—cowboy/horse riders, woods/river roamers, and ocean lovers.

We have interesting visits wherever we go.

Duane and Louise