The Inevitable Breakup of the Idyllic Barlow Belt

Well, it was inevitable.

I've always considered these last few years of my life to be an exceptionally charmed time in my life, regarding my family's proximity to each other and the number of times I've been able to spend with all of us together at once.

I was still in elementary school when my oldest brother moved out of the house for college. I only lived with all of my siblings at home for 7 years of my life - I barely remember the days of having the 5 of us kids living under one roof. Then that same brother got married and started a family, and kept moving to and from Wisconsin, treating us with short bursts of time living nearby, before they'd move away again, just to come back a few years later. But during those yoyo years, one or more of my other siblings would have also moved out of the house, so when Chris was at least living close, we were still missing someone when we were together.

Then I went to college, and I barely saw any of my siblings, aside from a special, but too short, three months living with my brother Ben and his family, and the year or so that Abby and her family lived with her mother-in-law near my school. Even my parents made only rare appearances in my life, as I came home during an off-semester, or the occasional holiday. There was a time in my life where I saw very little of any of my family. And sadly, it didn't feel all that strange to me because, as much as I love and adore my family, I was just used to not seeing them very much. I was used to it being a big deal when one of my siblings came home to visit, because it happened somewhat infrequently. Poor college students can only afford so many plane tickets home, and parents with 5 kids can only shell out so much money toward bringing their poor college student children home.

After school, I moved to Utah, where my parents had relocated, and I saw my cousins and aunts and uncles and grandparents more than I ever had before in my life - I met family I'd only heard of in stories, and re-met family I hadn't seen in years - and it was really great...but it wasn't the same as seeing my siblings, my nieces and nephews. I got even more excited when my brothers and sister visited, because I loved getting time with the little ones, and I loved having my siblings and their spouses to hang out with. I was a grown up finally - I could hold my own in the grown up conversations. I could joke and laugh and relate to what their lives were like, with a real job, and real decisions to make. But the siblings' visits rarely overlapped each other, and when they did, we still only had everyone there together maybe once. The families was just too spread out, with such different schedules - the trips to Utah were saved for times when they had a number of days to spend out there, and those long vacations rarely coincided between all the siblings. I think we managed it once, for a short weekend, and it was euphoric mayhem the whole time.

And then, the planets aligned. As well as they can in the vast Barlow world, at least. Chris was in Wisconsin, Ben was in Iowa. Zach and his wife had finished their grand adventure along the California coast and were settling in Missouri, and Abby found herself settling in Arkansas for a time. And me? A little while into this settling of the Midwest Wall of Barlows, I moved to DC.

DC, where people want to visit, and siblings go for work meetings regularly, though intermittently. And just like that, the Barlow family history moved into the Age of Palooza. An era when everything was suddenly shiny and sparkly and wonderful.

This is the Age I've been living in and loving for the last 2 and a half years. An Age where I can fly to a sibling on the cheap, and the others live close enough that they can drive over for a weekend visit. Where we can talk about having a fun family reunion, and then we actually have it. Where aunts and uncles are remembered by young nieces and nephews from their last visit, because it wasn't so long ago that their sweet memories had already forgotten it.

It started off on such a great note, too - I stopped in Wisconsin for a week, on my way to DC, and my two other brothers came up to my oldest brother's house, and we spent a weekend playing outside and running around. After that, we were hooked on each other. It was just too easy to see everyone now - the spaces between us were like we all lived across the street from each other, compared to the past. We had our first real Palooza soon after that. And then another. and then another! We had two full family gatherings in the space of 3 months! We had multiple mini gatherings interspersed throughout the 2 years. I had siblings visiting me in DC; I visited siblings along the Barlow Belt down the Midwest. My parents visited me and visited everyone, and we all gathered wherever multiple Barlows were rumored to be.

Living so many years deprived of such a family feast that most others call normal dinner, I never in my wildest dreams imagined that I could have so many fun memories with my whole family. Especially as each sibling's family grew ever larger. It should've been harder to get everyone in one place. But with Barlows lining the Mississippi River, and the two outlying Barlow branches in better position to travel across their distances, my life was charmed. My nieces and nephews knew their cousins and were excited to see each other. My family created traditions and inside jokes. The states that made up the Barlow Belt were known to me by more than just the capitols I learned in elementary school: Wisconsin was my most frequented running trail; Missouri was illuminated by fireworks; Iowa meant a big fuzzy dog to be my pillow; and it was always Christmas in Arkansas (when it wasn't the middle of Summer).

And the District of Columbia was where I finally got to host and take care of my family, instead of them always taking care of me.

But as all charms inevitably do, this charmed Age was destined to end. But that's not always a bad thing - after all, a charm that lasts too long often loses its luster and fades away to unappreciated normalcy. And anyway, just because one charm ends, it doesn't mean another can't be cast immediately.

In our case, the Age of Palooza ends as the Barlow Belt gets broken up at its middle. Iowa's link is dissolving away, and moving to Seattle, where it's always rainy and therefore always green. And I, for one, am excited to find out what name this new Age our family is embarking on will make for itself. And I cannot wait to visit our new Barlow place. The one time I visited Seattle, for this same brother's wedding, it left a tantalizing taste in my mouth; I always tell people that I know I loved Seattle because I was grumpy most of the time I was there, and I still really enjoyed myself. So now I have to go back and see how much more I'll enjoy it while I'm in a good mood!

And I've been thinking about this song ever since I heard the news - if Seattle is anything like, it's certainly going a wacky and exciting Age that the Barlows are stepping into:

*I triple dog dare you to not throw your hands up in the air when the chorus hits.