New Housing

Mom and Dad came for a visit on Mother's Day. One of the motivations for them aside from a vacation was to join us at Derek's recitals. Monday evening was his percussion ensemble and Tuesday was the jazz ensemble. We enjoyed both of them. The pictures show Derek on his favorite instrument, the marimba. We brought Sarah to see him perform on the first night. He was very happy to see her.

We think we may have a solution for Derek's housing situation. Thursday evening we went to the place where he really wants to stay. He has made friends with a music major that is very similar to himself. His name is Dave and he's very focused on his music, not on partying. Dave is pictured in the ensemble on the base drum, with the blue shirt. He rents a room in a house in the next town. There is another room available. We met the owner. He is a man probably in his 30's that rents out 3 rooms of his house. He's from, I think Malaysia. He's a software engineer and spends most of his time in New York. He comes back to this area for about a week a month. Dave and Derek would have the basement. They each have their own room and a common living area. There is a laundry room down there as well. They would share a bathroom on the main level. There is also a woman renting an upstairs room. She uses the upstairs bathroom as does the homeowner when he's in town. We met her as well. We really liked the owner. He has a very laid back demeanor. There is no lease, just a security deposit and he asks for a month's notice if Derek should leave. Derek has full access to the house. Everything is furnished. We're going to give this a try because it's what he really wants. Dave said he could ride with him to school so there is no need of a car. My only reservation is that it's about 4 miles from school. I talked to 2 of Derek's former apartment roommates Thursday when I was waiting for Derek. We will be able to get the security deposit and last month's rent so it's not a total wash.

Raising kids is a lot of trial and error and hoping the right decisions are being made. Only time will tell us if this is a good one. The area is much nicer than the last one so I remain optomistic.