Today we broke apart an established world and it remained intact. The two thirteen-year-old girls that I have lived with for five years are moving out next month. Their Dad is going with them. The expected fury of emotion and running into bedrooms never arrived. Instead there was incessant chatter about which type of pet; hedgehog, naked cat, ferret might be possible in the new location. There were no red cheeks and no smells of nervous fear. We tell them romantic love started the relationship and family and deep friendship is how it is now. We highlight how important it is to try-and how hard we tried. Herculean efforts. I joke about their future loves and how they will have the feels and want to try. Healthy, awkward, predating giggles ensue.

While my partnership with their Dad has been a tirade of calamities, the blending and restructuring of our five-child family has been an easy miracle. Children who genuinely enjoy each other, build sibling community and have an ongoing list of ‘Family Sayings’. Moving physical geographies is uneventful to the girls, seeing instead the continuity of secure adult relationships.

It was a conversation so matter of fact, I at times, questioned whether it was a dream.

So in this new day of a new month of a new half year, the world looks like a well attached construction zone.

Missing only one thing.  Ice cream.