The scariest part of this move was, by far, the fear of destroying my children. Everyone says that high school is the WORST time to move and that if you move teenagers, you might as well start planning for homeschooling because they’ll be so ostracized and outcast and otherwise out-of-place that you’ll end up bailing on the public school system.

Oh, and they’ll hate you forever for destroying their lives and maybe after 25 years you will reconcile and you might get to spend Christmas with your grandchildren.

So I was a wee bit nervous, especially because both kids had some pretty solid friend groups and longstanding relationships.

But we’re at eight weeks in now, and I think we’re good! In fact, more than good. The Girl wins the prize of first person to invite a friend over!

The girls made Japanese lunchables – they’re the craziest things with a hundred little packets of powder that you add water to, knead, mold, microwave, and otherwise play with. The instructions are in Japanese, so you definitely need YouTube help.

And get this story – The Girl met this friend via Minnesota! Turns out one of her friends back home knew a girl online and they started chatting and when the internet friend said “I’m from Portland,” the back-home girl said “what school?” and it turns out she’s in the same grade at the same school as The Girl! Out of nowhere one day The Girl got a group text with her back-home friend and some stranger who texted “Where you at? I’m coming to eat lunch with you!”

(Coincidence? Sure, you can call it that if you like. However, I’ve been praying for friends and connection and lunch buddies for months now, so I’m just gonna chalk it up to God being the King of the Internet, too.)

Beyond friends (which both kids now have), they’re both doing amazing in school. (It does help that Edina has crazy-high academic standards and Portland has…shall we say…slightly less high academic standards. Both kids are finding some of the work repetitive, and I’m all for it – nothing wrong with a bit of an easier ride on the academic front while you’re navigating tough social/emotional waters.)

Moreover, their schools are really, really good fits. The Girl can be as weird as she wants to be (she even test-drove wearing a wig to school the other day) and nobody bats an eyelash. They feel accepted and they fit in. They like their teachers and their classes (oh man, The Girl is taking metalshop – she loves it, but every other day I tremble if my phone rings at around 1:30 in the afternoon, fearing for a missing digit report). They head off happily (mostly) each day and grunt “fine” when they come home and I ask how school was.

Honestly, I’m pinching myself. It seems too good to be true.