Over the weekend, I sent my daughter off to Mexico for a semester. 
We were all at a family reunion near Bemidji, Celebrating my parents’ 50th wedding anniversary at Minnesota Nice Cafe. Here, Kylie and her boyfriend John rap for the happy couple.
“Yeah, it’s a 50”
“What?”
“-ith Anniversary.” (repeat)
After all of that emotion, Kylie, John, Sherry and I set out Sunday for the Cities. 
Monday morning, we left her at the airport at 5:00 a.m. for her 6:50 a.m. flight.
Surprisingly few tears were shed.
Here, the night before, they look surprisingly calm and happy. Who’s to say they weren’t? We’ve heard from her twice via Skype since she arrived, and things are going well. Even her luggage arrived – an uncertainty given they had only a 40 minute layover in Houston.
The good news for us is that we still have two daughters at home, so we’re not going to mope. Maritha, who you see here with her cousin Annika, has already started her stealth conquest of Kylie’s room. 
She commandeered a box and moved in a bunch of pictures and knick knacks. The trick now will be to figure out what to do with Kylie’s knick knack wealth. Where does all the stuff come from? Maritha clearly sees the beginnings of the empty nest syndrome as the opportunity syndrome. No teary goodbyes there.
Meanwhile, life went on back at Bemidji, especially for Maia, who caught the water skiing bug (probably the one that crawled into her uncle Jon’s ear).
At Grace Lake every summer, we have the luxury of having two power boats. My brother Nate has one and my brother-in-law Jon has the other. With Jon driving the boat here, she’s going for pure speed.
Here she is dropping her ski.
And now she’s up on the slalom ski.
Her mom decided to get into the act. Ducks on the pond.
Here they are together.
Check out the spray!
And now, for the parting shot into the sunset.
It’s clear now why so many Mexicans are emigrating to Minnesota, even if Kylie has emigrated (temporarily) the other way.
Nice shots! Back to work soon for you after your sabbatical?