Sending Shannon on her way

Austin isn't perfect, but it's a good place to call home. Good enough that when people like Blythe and now Shannon move away, people can't seem to understand why.

And they might not have understood it entirely, but they knew they had to go. So they went. Blythe a few years ago to Colorado, and now Shannon, with her sweet son, to Florida.

Oh, Florida.

Shannon's mom is there, which will help with Z over the next few years. I've always been in awe of her ability to manage life as a single mom. No one plans it to be that way. Sometimes it just happens. Rather than letting it defeat her, or even slow her down, Shannon pushed on. She and Z lived the most fulfilling Austin life, the kind you try to keep living each year after that first magical Year in Austin. Hyde Park was the perfect hood to bike around. She let us come along to play on the greenest of greens at the golf course and in her most magical backyard forest.

Z always had the best toys, and Shannon always made the best tea. "You gotta get a Thermos," she'd tell me as we sipped her homemade chai. Every once in a while, I'd get lucky and she'd give me a mini yoga lesson. I still can't imagine my stiff body as fluid as hers, but it's fun to roll out the mat and try.


We made dinner last week. Broccoli and potatoes roasted with olive oil and garlic, served with grass-fed beef. We sat on the carpet and didn't even spill our wine. Z and Jules watched a movie, and we just hung out, enjoying the last dinner. I know I'll see them again, but it's still the end of a chapter.

Chapters big and small end all the time, and I'm learning to deal with that better. It feels good to send her off with a proper goodbye. Chapters rarely end that way.

There are lots of farewells that didn't happen. For whatever reason. And then time passes.

I tend to take the quiet route, letting leaves rest where they fall. It's easier that way. But thankfully, I got one-on-one time with both Shannon and Blythe before that predetermined time they each picked to move arrives and it's time to go.

There are such things as nice goodbyes.