Answer

Why my parents are moving back...

I figured I just post here since the reasons could get fairly long.

Dad has been working for a temp agency for about the past year. In the past 2 months I don't think he's actually worked a full week. Living on his retirement check alone just isn't enough so some things, like the mortgage paymnet on the house up there, have fallen behind.

James was working thru the same temp agency and got the same amount of work time, and he's not one to sit idly by. He may not have a lot of bills, if any really, but he still likes to contribute to the household. He almost worries about it sometimes. He does not want to seem like a freeloader, even when living at home. Impressive coming from someone whom I remember as a little kid who always got his way, what he wanted, and didn't have to do much for any of it. :-) I'm so proud of him.

Mom was literally wasting away up there. She wasn't working. All she had for company was the dog during the day. She felt like everyone was ignoring her when they were home - Dad downstairs working on one project or another; James either sleeping, watching a movie, or in playing on his PS2 or computer; and when Andrea was still living up there, she was sleeping more often than not when she was home. So, moving back down here lets her go back to working at "her" store. She's worked there off and on for several years now. She feels needed, wanted, and like she's contributing to the house and others.

Andrea moved down here a few months ago under the premise of getting her finances in order - she was guaranteed full time to transfer to a different Publix down here. She's also working on her Masters in Financial Accounting, which she started since she moved down here. I don't know that the finances are actually all that better since she moved down here, but she's almost finished with her first session on her Masters and has registered and ordered the books for her second session.

Dad will be able to join the VFD down here again. Like Mom only wanting to work at "her" store, Dad is only wanting to volunteer at Midway's VFD so he hasn't been doing that in Atlanta. He's already let the chief know that he wants his old position back.

All in all, I think all of them were much happier when they lived down here. I know Mom usually was, at any rate. James is a bit frustrated at the moment because his truck is broken down and still in Atlanta and the job he had lined up down here is not as "lined up" as he'd hoped. He's gone up to meet the guy he's supposed to be working with the past 3 days and they guy has either not been there or had one excuse after another. Today he's not even bothering, he's going to stay home and watch X while I go see the allergist this afternoon.

When Dad finally gets down here, Rob and I know that we'll finally get a lot of the projects around the house he's been working on finished. We have redone the computer room a bit to build a built-in desk, haven't built in the desk and we started the project quite a while ago. And there's other little things - a new roof on the house, some of the electrical rewired, and other things that the "Handyman/Jack of All Trades" whom is my Dad can lend an expert hand to accomplishing.