Leaving Home

We had a very busy final week in California. The kids’ last day of school went well, they both had great attitudes about the move. I went in and snapped a few pictures of the girls and their friends before school got out. They gave each child in their class a mini Crunchie bar and our new contact information.

Meridian’s class, teachers and ex-teachers wrote letters to her in a book (thanks to Lydia Clark for bringing the book and getting everyone to sign it!), and the kids each made a note that Mr. Nemeth put on a key ring for her. She took both on the flight with her. As we drove away from school, Meridian noted that the best thing about having to move was that everyone said really nice things about you. She really enjoyed hearing what a good friend she was and how much she would be missed. I pointed out that it was a good reminder not to wait until someone moves away to tell them what you appreciate about them. I might be a little obsessed with teachable moments, ha!

Cambria’s teacher, Mrs. Curry, put together a book with some pictures of the class and letters with drawings from each child. Cambria loved seeing what her friends wrote and drew, and she carried hers on the plane as well. Cambria said the saddest thing about leaving Ophir Elementary was that she didn’t get to go on a field trip with her class in first grade. Funny, when we got to England and toured her new school, her new class was away on their first field trip… just one school day before she would have joined them! I guess she doesn’t have good luck that way. I assured her that there would be more field trips. I’m actually taking a break from my excessive volunteer application forms to write this.

We had Scott’s going away party at work Friday afternoon. It was a nice dinner, with kind presentations to Scott. Mumu (my mom ~ it’s Finn for Grandma) took the kids home from Beale and Scott and I went to the Sisks’ Halloween party in Ophir. That was fun, but I had to think as I learned more about some very fun and interesting people that it was a bummer that we weren’t going to be able to build those relationships any further for the next few years. But it was still fun. In the British spirit, Scott and I went as soccer hooligans (thanks to Eric, Jason & Shelly for letting us borrow their Reading fan gear), but I couldn’t find the fake blood I had so we ended up looking more like fans instead. Whatever, it was fun.

Saturday brought us our going away potluck at our empty house in Ophir. We had many friends, some long lost, come up to say goodbye. I think we had about 60 people over the course of the evening. It was hard to chat with everyone as much as I wanted, but it was still great to see everyone.

Sunday we went to breakfast with the Pierces and Holders, then met up with the Chases too, to see Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. The girls had each earned free movie tickets in the Walk a Thon at school, and wanted to use them. After the movie we picked up a sundae at Foster’s Freeze that Cambria had earned in Kindergarten, and the rest of us enjoyed ice cream and a final chat too. These goodbyes were the beginning of the hardest, the girls’ best friends Katie & Jessica, my good friends Barbara and Elayne, and Elayne’s kids Ethan and especially Diana, who hits it off with Cambria fabulously every time they see each other. Diana’s many tears made me lose it for the first time.

Sunday night we had dinner at Mumu’s and said our goodbyes to Eric and Jen and Ben and Bridget. Sad stuff, but we held it together. We took some family pictures since it'll be awhile before we're together again.

Monday we finished up re-packing and moving out of the motor home and spent a lot of the day cleaning the house and fridges. It was really, really dumb not to hire someone to clean the house. Our renters said not to worry about it, but then I couldn’t leave it gross. We turned off all the lights as we left our empty house, and we walked out saying, “Goodbye Ophir house, we’ll miss you”! We took both the trucks down to Citrus Heights, Cambria rode with me and as we left she was playing her Nintendo DS. As we caught our last glimpse of the house, I asked her if she was sad that we were leaving Ophir. She said “Yeah, but I have my DS.” LOL, there’s one thing in favor of a portable game system!

By the way, Scott’s cousin Rachael bought our Vibe, and is also moving into our house, so if you see her driving around Ophir, wave hello!

Monday night we had dinner with the Pierces and a nice long chat. In a lot of ways it felt like any other night, since we have had dinner together so often. The kids were all playing computer games and watching tv, so we told them to turn it all off and talk to each other since it’d be a while before we could see them again in person. They ended up staring at each other, which was pretty funny. We adults all held it together pretty well, but I cried in the car driving away. We will miss them a lot.

I had mentioned to my mom that I would like to hit Joe’s Crab Shack and Old Sacramento one more time before we took off, so she and Dave took us down there for lunch on Tuesday. Scott got caught up at work and even though we delayed our arrival time, he didn’t make it in time to join us. Later, my baby brother Jason gave me grief for not inviting him since he works mere blocks away… I just wasn’t thinking.

Tuesday night we had dinner again at Mumu’s, with Jason and Shelly and Scott’s parents Gail and Bill and his sister Lisa. Jason wanted to ask the girls to be in their wedding next fall, but he couldn’t even talk to me about it without tearing up. We decided to wait and do it on Skype sometime. It looks like we’ll be back in California next September for their wedding! The girls will be very excited for the wedding and their participation, and of course for the visit home.

Goodbyes with Jason and Shelly and Lisa were hard that night. Lisa sees the girls as much as possible and they will miss her a lot. We hope stay in the loop with Jason and Shelly’s wedding plans, but it won’t be the same as being there.

Gail and Bill came over and helped drive us and all our crap to the airport the next morning. Mumu and Grandma Gail were both a mess at the airport, and had me crying too. Dave and Bill seemed to hold it together a bit better. After we checked in, we saw there was no line at security and we could have stayed and chatted a little longer with the grandparents, but with all the tears we decided to just go upstairs. I think we had all said what we wanted by that point anyway.

Mumu had given the girls each a wrapped package, and they opened them when we got settled upstairs. She had made them each a photo Storybook, with pictures from their births until now. Hundreds of pictures were in each book, it must have been a lot of work. The girls thought they were really cool. They each have them on their nightstands here in England.

About 14 hours after that last goodbye we were arriving in London… but that’s another blog. :)