Adam took his spring break by visiting his Mom. He returned back to Boston last Sunday. Here's Ruth's recap that I asked for. Enjoy.
Adam was here for the past week, and we had a GREAT time. As you may recall, he'd made his decision to go live with his Dad over the summer, so never really got to say goodbye to his friends, which in Iowa country, they're scattered far and wide in various small towns and out-in-the-country farms. At Julie's suggestion, I called his school to see if he could go there for lunch. No problem! I was a little bit worried when I dropped him off, praying that all would go well and he would have fun. When I picked Adam up an hour or so later (he went to both lunches), he was wreathed in smiles and grinned all the way home. Yay! It DID go well! After school that day, one of his good friends came over to play video games - sans his evil brother, aptly named "Damien", thank goodness.

The next day I cajolled Adam into going into the recently purchased house behind me. I was afraid to go myself for fear of the creatures that may have made a home in there through one of the various, ever-widening holes in the roof. But there was nary a creature afoot! We found treasure. And this is how Hoarding can begin! I know you've been in that house, mom, and know how gross it is with all the mold from the incoming rain and snow, HOWEVER! Those same holes that might have allowed creatures to enter also seemed to have helped the place air out a bit. It wasn't NEARLY as bad, and didn't feel as scary as it had. In fact, I may enter there again BY MYSELF to retrieve the treadle sewing machine that's still in there, and the old vanity. As it was, I found a silver pocket watch and a separate gold case that I gave to Adam (I was going to use it as a wall clock in my next dollhouse for the Petites). He LOVED it. In an jar of buttons, I also found some old foreign coins that I gave to him too. In addition, I found an old music box with a dancing couple that had jointed legs so that when they turned this way and that, their legs would swing hither and fro as they danced to the music. Sweet! I also found parts of an old doll tea set, a matte teal ginger pot, some more old fabric that I'd missed the first time, a rather pretty "Last Supper" print that you may remember was hanging on the living room wall. GORGEOUS coloring and a pretty carved frame. There were just a lot of fun odds and ends. An adventure! Julie, Scott, Adam and I had TWO separate movie dates, the second on a perfectly rainy day where we snacked a lot (huh-oh, weigh-in!) and on a gorgeous sunny day that came afterwards, Adam and I went to Emmetsburg, a small town nearby. We went to a Chinese restaurant and then to the local antique and thrift stores there, were we each found a few small treasures. I couldn't tell whether or not he was having fun, him being a cool teenager and all. When I asked him what he wanted to do next, he said, "This is fun! Are there any more stores around?" Yay! He later said again how much fun he had! I can tell that's going to stick in his memory and we'll do it again next time around, over the July 4th week.

His last day here he met up with his best friend Alec. I drove him to Alec's house, he'd taken off the afternoon from school and they went and saw a matinee of "The Three Stooges" and then played until all hours. I finally called at 9:30 that night, Adam told me he'd be home around 10:00, I called again around 10:47 - and he was just pulling up. Which is a good thing! His plane was leaving from Fort Dodge at SIX O'CLOCK the following morning! He ended up not going to sleep at all that night. And YES, we went up to the attic! I heard my mother's voice in my ear and knew that we'd better! The Rolfe city-wide garage sales are this weekend - so, unfortunately, is predicted rain. Adam brought a lot of bins down for me and we saw nary a bat. Who knows? Maybe that last bat was hanging out in my house all winter.

Maybe he was in the birdhouse I have on top of the cupboards in my kitchen! Maybe he was there the whole time, just WAITING to pounce with his bloody fangs of gore!! Hopefully, it was just a fluke and I will NEVER have a bat again.

All in all, we had a GREAT time, a little teenage drama thrown in for good measure but good adventures when all is said and done. The last day, before I took him to Alec's, he insisted that we take a picture together. So we did, using the "self portrait" mode. Later he took a picture of himself in the car, and more pictures looking out the windshield as we drove to Alec's. You can just imagine the "Fargo" money being hidden in the snow along that long road.

And that was my visit with Adam, who grows by leaps and bounds, both in stature and maturity, each time I see him. I love that boy.