Maxwell Sanity: When Jesse Used His Marriage to Leave the MotherShip!

The Maxwells have eight kids - Nathan, Christopher, Sarah, Joseph, Anna, John, Jesse and Mary. 

As of April this year, all three girls were unmarried and living at home with their parents and their youngest brother Jesse.   The other four brothers were married and living nearby.  Nathan and Christopher lived in homes within direct sight of the Main Maxwell home.  Joseph and John owned homes located within a few lots of each other 0.7 miles away from the rest of the family.  Jesse owned a home across the street from John and Joseph - but since he was unmarried - he continued to live at home and rented the house out.

There had been some internet rumors of Jesse being engaged.   The Maxwells used to announce engagements on their website - but after Christopher and Joseph each had an engagement called off - the Maxwells started maintaining radio silence prior to weddings. (They grudgingly acknowledged John's engagement online after Chelsy's family announced the engagement.)  The only concern the internet had was that Jesse's fiancee was quite young.  She turned twenty a few weeks before her wedding.

Actually, there was one other issue.  Her name was Anna Craig - which means that the family would need to figure out a way to differentiate one more Anna on their blog from daughter Anna and Christopher's wife Anna.

I digress.

Then in March, Maxwell watchers got a new surprise.  Jesse Maxwell sold his house - and there was radio silence about that on the blog - so presumably he wasn't swapping houses for one closer to his parents.

Personally, I was hoping that he was going to relocate to Ohio so his wife would be closer to her family while he'd be farther from his family.   Now, I live about a mile from my husband's parents, but I married at 30 rather than twenty - and I am very consistent on setting boundaries.   The Maxwells seem to be rather more enmeshed than is good for a young wife to deal with so I was hoping for a relocation to a different state.  In case you think I'm being overly dramatic, take a look at the photos (released after the wedding) of Jesse packing up his stuff followed by a whole family prayer service with blessings.   I was totally convinced at this point that Jesse was going to be a Buckeye!

What we got is even better - Jesse and Anna Maxwell seem to be doing their own thing while killing a few sacred Maxwell cows for good measure. 

Remember the tearful blessings?  Jesse moved to Kansas City, KS - which is a 30-40 minute drive in good weather.  The newlyweds can literally drive to see the Maxwells daily; I had a longer commute to my teaching job after I married my husband.

Silly me - I'm grounding this in my experiences.  Jesse moved 400 times farther away than any other Maxwell has before!  Of course, Christopher's Anna moved from Washington to Kansas while John's Chelsy moved from Iowa - so the sisters-in-law might be struggling to keep a straight face while the original Maxwells suffer from separation anxiety.

Instead of safely ensconcing his new wife in Maxwell-Land, Jesse Maxwell is now living in an apartment!    For most young newlyweds in the US, apartment living is normal.   For the Maxwells, this is straight-up heresy.   The Maxwells have sold a book called "Buying a House Debt-Free: Equipping Your Son" based on the fact that Maxwell Men earn enough money prior to marriage to buy a house and are able to raise huge families with less stress because they don't have a mortgage payment and don't pay rent.   Living in an apartment for a year is essentially a giant "Nope" to a huge cornerstone of Maxwellian thought.

Lest we think Jesse will return to Leavenworth, he's stated that they are living in the apartment as a way to explore different neighborhoods of Kansas City prior to buying a house.   Again, in most families this would be a non-issue - but not in the Maxwells.   The entire rest of the family lives in walking distance of each other!  To visit Jesse, cars will have to be used!  Planning will be required!

But surely the Maxwells will reconnect at church each week, right?  The Maxwells don't home church.  Nope, not the Maxwells.  Instead, all of the adult family members are members of a church that meets at a local retirement community where Steve preaches, various Maxwells provide musical accompaniment, and there are 3-5 members of the retirement community compared to 18+ people who are Maxwells.

Totally not a home church.

Oh, wait.  Jesse and Anna Maxwell are joining a church in Kansas City.

Good luck, young Maxwells.   Enjoy your freedom - and work on setting those boundaries.  Your marriage will be stronger for it.