I stayed up too late last night. The funny thing is, no one else was awake--just me. So there wasn't anything to do, but I just couldn't make myself let the night end. I knew that once I woke up in the morning it would all be over. So I just sat at the kitchen counter hoping that I could just soak in all of the happiness and love I have felt over the past few weeks.
It's hard to leave a place that there is very little chance I will ever come back to. So I had to cry a little just for the sake of all the people I will most likely never see again, the beautiful birds and trees, the mangos that I eat every day, the amazing beaches, the kangaroos and koalas I will never pet again, and of course, KMart (I know that will be back home, but it just won't be the same). Along with that is the fact that it will be yet another year and a half before we'll see Bob and Delsa again. That's a long time, and we miss them so much. It has meant so much for Mason, Katie and Andrew to be here with them. I hope the second half of their mission will go faster for us now that we have seen where they are and know how much the people who work with them love them and love to serve them.
So, goodbye Australia. I hope you continue to take great care of Bob and Delsa.
We leave here at 11:30 a.m., take a 4-hour flight to Auckland, have a one-hour layover, then take a 12-hour flight to LA. We have to spend the day there (I hope we can figure out what to do) and then we fly home Sunday night on a red-eye, and drive home on Monday. I will be very happy to see a change of clothes and a shower by the time it's all over. Our last 12-hour flight was so easy, I think I'm going into this with unrealistic expectations. Wish us luck.
7 comments:
You mad me cry too - of course I'm a fairly easy target. I can assure you, seeing where they live does NOT help the time go any faster. :)
I am going to LA on the 2nd--too bad our time didn't overlap. You should drive in to Santa Monica if the weather is nice and take the kids down to the beach and the 3rd street promenade where there is a pier that has amusement rides and stuff. Small, but entertaining.
Welcome back to America!
I am exhausted and your post is making me have a headache cry.
Yesterday was a pretty tough day. I couldn't get the image of Katie peaking around the people in line with tears in her eyes, to wave at me. But today I buckled up my stamina and went to an all day meeting for the new missionaries and did pretty well until I read this entry. Thanks for coming. Thanks for seeing what our life is like as it will be easier to share our memories with you. Thanks for your love. Thanks for Andrew leaving behind the pokeman guy (forgot his name, but he was in my closet) so I can think of him whenever I see it. (and no, there was no memory card with it).
It is hard to describe how precious the visit was and it is hard to describe how painful the goodbye was. I love you so very much. Thank you for the gift of your visit.
So sweet, you've made me really look forward to our trip in March - I think we might even be able to handle the flights for these kind of memories.
WOW...it must have been a good visit if you even got DAD to comment. Unprecedented.
Hard to describe the way leaving felt. Maybe something like having a metal spike hammered under your toenails. Or maybe like something else.
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