The whole family is on the move

My son Steve in Cincinnati called around noon today to say he had just mailed the first check to his daughter Lisa's new school.

"In Cincinnati?" I asked.

"No. In Las Vegas," he replied.

This has been in the works for several weeks. His wife Nicky, a doctor, had an offer from a practice in Las Vegas she couldn't afford to pass up, so it's good-bye Cincy, hello Vegas.

Steve and Nicky have done amazing things with their beautiful home there and I know it's killing them to leave it. And the jazz scene in Cincinnati is much richer than in Vegas, which means Steve will have to start all over when it comes to networking into the music scene. He's been in Cincinnati about 20 years and his bass playing is a fixture in that city's musical culture.

So what with our move and theirs and my older son Sean and his wife already living in Portland, Ore., we'll all have addresses west of the Mississippi by the end of the year.

Sean and Ruth are planning to fly back to Indiana for the holidays, but Sean's mother Diane will be the only family member left. And she and her husband are planning to move to Arizona next year.