My baby daughter is coming home

Pat whooped and hollered, yelled and shrieked and nearly fell out of her Lazy Boy. You would have thought Seattle had won a Super Bowl or a World Series.

No. It was our baby daughter Berney on the phone announcing that she's coming home from Texas with her husband and family.

Well, maybe not home, but sort of home. The Neals are moving to Astoria, Oregon, where Andrew will take a new position as a lineman apprentice.

Berney and her family moved to Texas, where Andrew took a similar position, just about two years ago. But it seems a lot longer. Pat and I made one visit, and we thank God for cell phones and the Internet.

Berney and Andrew are excited about the move to Oregon. Both have missed their families tremendously during the two years, and Andrew has sought a way to move back to the Northwest.

Berney and Andrew liked a lot about Texas. That was never an issue. Distance was.

So was tornado alley. It encompasses an area that includes Dallas and Denton, where Andrew and Berney live.

Every time there were tornado warnings, Berney was super nervous. So were we, and we called her enough times for her to know that.

There was never any damage for the Neals, but tornadoes occurred within 45 minutes of their home. Cousins in Dallas suffered vehicle damage from one tornado.

Berney did wake up one morning to find a large tree uprooted in her front yard. But that came from just a regular old Texas windstorm.

So we're excited that Berney and Andrew and the family are coming back to the Northwest, where things are a little bit calmer. And, of course, we missed them.

We are sort of a strange American family that way. We were never parents who wanted their kids to leave as soon as they were 18. As a matter fact, we tried to hold them as long as we could.

Pat and I are terrible empty nesters. We are excited that Berney and her family will be back closer to the nest soon. They will arrive August 10 or 11 at Andrew's parents' home in Walla Walla.

We may not wait to join them in Astoria.