Friday, July 11, 2008
Leaving Home Part 2
Before we left for the airport we had to make a few stops so that Dakotah could say goodbye to some family and friends. First stop was right across the street at the Earles. Jim and Judy are like another set of grandparents to the kids. I have actually known them most of my life because they did Special Olympics with my uncles. When we moved in here it was awesome to find out that they lived right across the street. They are wonderful people. Next stop was a few houses down - Tessa's house. Tess is Kotah's best friend. They treat her like she is one of the family. They are going to throw a party for her when she comes home.
We left the neighborhood and went to the pizza shop to see her daddy. He said goodbye to her before he left for work but he wanted us to stop before we went to the airport. He came out to say goodbye to her and after she got back into the car he said a quick bye to me and ran into the shop. He was crying and didn't want Kotah to see it because he didn't want her to cry. And he knew if I saw him cry I would have cried. After we left the shop we went to see my gram. Gram held it together pretty well. And Kotah did,too. Me? Tearing up for like the 10th time that day.
We got to the airport a little after 3 and got their suitcases checked. We sat and spent some time together before they had to go down to the boarding area. Kotah called and said bye to her dad one more time and she saw that I was getting teary again. She started picking on me! Around 4 Kotah's grandma said it was time to go. She came over to hug me and I told her that I loved her and was going to miss her a lot. She burst into tears which in turn made me do the same. I just sat there holding her as we both cried. I think we left a puddle on the floor :) I tried to calm her down a little before they went through the ticket line. I told her to make sure that she waved to me after she got through the metal detectors. She did and I could see that she was still crying. Then again,so was I. I watched her walk off and I tried not to lose it. I was holding Hadlei (who had been running a fever all day) and she wiped my cheek and said,"It's ok mommy. Don't cry." Yup,you guessed it! That made me cry even more!
I got to the parking garage and put Hadlei in her seat and just sat there and cried. All of these awful thoughts about things that could happen to her ran through my mind. I sat there and prayed that she would have a safe flight. I was going to be a nervous wreck until I knew that she was safe on the ground in Oregon. Kotah called me around 7 and said that they had made it to Cincinnati. First leg of the trip was over and she was safe. She called again an hour later to let me know that they were going to be delayed about a half hour. The final call was at 3:15 am our time. She had arrived in Oregon and was safe in the hands of her dad. I felt much better after that last phone call - even though I had a splitting headache from all the crying.
Shae is taking this kind of hard. When I told her that I had talked to Kotah and that she was ok she started crying and said,"Why did she have to leave?" I felt so bad for her. She and Kotah are pretty close and now that Shae is old enough to realize that Kotah is gone she really misses her. I told her that she would be able to talk to her and she could send her letters and pictures. Hopefully I can keep her busy enough so that she can't think about it so much.
Thank you for yours prayers for her safe travel. They worked!Labels: kids
