DC/Hogwarts and life-changing days

I took Elizabeth to the doctor the day before she flew out to BYU.  It was a follow-up appointment with the endocrinologist, and it went about like all our doctor appointments lately.  (See the post titled What DO They Do?)

We left home around 2:00 for a 3:30 appointment in DC, and somewhere around the Pentagon, things became a little weird.  I've driven to this doctor before (it was a follow up, remember?) with No problems.  MapQuest worked!  Wonder of wonder and miracle of miracles!  But this time... 

I was supposed to turn right onto a street that, I swear, did not exist.  After crossing the Potomac and doing a loop-de-loop I came back to try again.  It still wasn't there.  So we tried to just get over into the general area in DC where we wanted to be, and go from there.  This plan ranks right up there with freeing the Iranian hostages back in the 70's.  Suddenly, the roads of Washington DC sensed, through some ancient powers, that they had a lost car on their roads, and they took full advantage of the situation.  

Streets suddenly changed from one name to another, in the blink of an eye, with no forewarning.  We turned off of one street, onto another street, only to find ourselves still on the street we had just turned off of.  We visited Reagan National Airport, the Mall, the Capitol building, Union Station, several scary neighborhoods in which minorities were NOT the minority, and thought we had things almost figured out-- we just needed to turn right and we'd be on the correct street-- when every street for miles decided to become One Way going left.  We rolled down the window several times to ask what happened to Madison Ave.  Or was it Massachusetts?  the first guy told us it was behind us.  We knew that.  We just came from there.  But why did it suddenly disappear?  The next person--a large black woman in a very small knit tank top that she was trying to wear as a dress--just shook her head and chewed her gum loudly with her mouth open.  I took that to mean, "I don't know where the street has gone."  I called the doctor's office to ask for directions and to ask where the street had gone, and the receptionist said, "It should just continue on."  I couldn't agree more.    

And then I realized what was happening.  I have always wanted to visit Hogwarts.  But airfare to London is a bit pricey right now, and I'm not sure about the whole 9 3/4 bit.  The Lord must have heard my unspoken wishes and given me a taste of the Hogwarts experience right here in DC.  It was the only thing I could think of that made any sense.  The moving staircases, the opening picture frames, and the secret passwords have nothing on our experiences driving in DC.

Sigh.  We are so lucky to have such incredible experiences.  Right here!  No airfare needed.  Although, I have to admit, meeting Dumbledore would have been great.  But he's dead.   So, DC will have to do.

On another note, my life has changed drastically in the past 24 hours.  My older two girls have both gone to BYU.  It was a big change a few years ago when Rachel left, and I cried.  But this feels bigger.  I think because they are both gone.  The two babysitters, dinner-cookers, and mature girl friends that I live with.  Both gone.  And I feel all alone.

It didn't help that after dropping them off last night Mike and the other kids went to church and I was home... Alone.  Completely Alone.  I cleaned.  And organized.  But with a lot of tears.  

And it didn't help that the basement was so Empty.  When Rachel left, the furniture did not get rearranged.  Bedrooms stayed the same.  But now... the basement, instead of being a bedroom, is becoming a family room.

And this leads to another way in which my life is changing.  The whole 4 1/2 years we have lived here, we have had--basically--one living space.  The first floor of the house is, essentially, one big room.  So if anyone wanted to practice the violin, or play the piano, or watch a movie, or have a friend over, it all happened in the same room where I was cooking dinner and someone was doing schoolwork, and another person was checking their email, and someone else was madly working on their paper that was due in 15 minutes while someone brushed the dog.  Yes, we have had The Family Circus meets Enslaved by Ducks meets Cheaper by the Dozen all in one room for 4 1/2 years now.  When suddenly...

We have another family room!  I have not seen most of my children all day today.  Even the four that still live here.  They have been watching movies and playing games downstairs.  Josh has had a friend over this evening, and it has not been a major stress factor.  I am writing on my computer, and there are not 5 other conversations going on around me.

It is amazing what one more room can do.  Truly Amazing. 

Trying to visualize my life this fall is almost impossible.  No older girls.  A new family room.  Josh not doing JROTC.  Seminary closer to our house.  And probably (ok, this one I have very mixed emotions about) no HTT this fall.  It's like we moved-- except that the same stains are still on the carpet.  Oh yes, and we still have to deal with the leaky basement.  But other than that, my life has not changed so much since the last time we moved.  Crazy.

Now, one last thing.  Just FYI, this morning I wrote chapter two of a new novel I'm working on.  I am still sad that my girls are not here, but writing 1200 words an hour makes a part of me feel happy.  And this afternoon I mailed the first three chapters of Jacob's Peak to Dutton, along with 5 queries to agents for a different book.  (And 6 boxes of life to Elizabeth at college)  And I took Naomi to the neurologist for her EEG, after both of us being up all night so she could be sleep-deprived.  

Book recommendation: The Dream of the Stone.  I'm not finished with it yet, but if you like Madeline L'Engle, you'll like this.  (I read A Wrinkle in Time at least once a year, usually more, from third grade until after I was married.  Then a few ears later I read it to my kids.)  It's strange, a good story, and fun to read.