Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Across the Ocean We Go---Part 1

We've been in Colorado almost a month. I guess now its time to share the story of getting here...

Kaylin and I cleared housing on the 29th of August early in the morning. I packed her and all of the remaining stuff into our silver BMW and drove out of our parking space one last time. My left foot shook as I let off the clutch and pushed on the gas. It hit me then, and it hit my like a bag of bricks straight in the stomach. We're leaving here. Never again will I step foot in the home I brought my daughter to. Never again will I take her out of her first room at 7:30 in the morning. Tears began to fill my eyes but I continued to press the gas. I knew this day would come, whether in this situation or not being a military family, moving is part of the job description.

Kaylin had been eating banana puffs straight out of the can in her car seat, the genius found where I had stashed them and got the lid off. I chuckled at the fact that she had figured out how to open them and eat them one by one. Well as I'm having my emotional moment backing out of our parking space she decides to take that nice can of puffs and dump it all over herself and the car seat. DANG IT KAYLIN! Annoyance courses through me, not only can I barely keep the car running because my left foot is shaking so bad I could hardly back out. I stop, take a moment and breathe. Nothing is forcing me to back out right this second, but I knew it'd be like taking off a band aid. It'd hurt at first and then the sooner I got it over with the better I'd be.

I wiped the tear out of my eye and pushed the gas and let off the clutch. I backed out of our parking space for the last time. Not wanting to be completely alone, I headed to my friend Katie's to hug and say a few "see ya later's" (because as an Army wife I do NOT say good bye). I spent about an hour talking with Katie and Jen and watching Kaylin follow Piper and Tyler around. Kaylin hugged her friends, laughed and played while Jen took pictures. It was hard for me knowing that it was the last time I would step in my dear friend's house. Instead of focusing on what I wouldn't be doing, I focused on the fun I'd had and all the memories she created for me.

We gave our hugs and left to go to Kathryn's. I attempted to drop our stuff off at the hotel but the room we were staying in wasn't cleaned yet. So we went to Kathryn's and Kaylin desperately needed a nap. I checked with Megan and dropped Kaylin off with her so she could nap while Kathryn and I dropped off the BMW and grabbed some much needed lunch. We took the suitcases back up to the hotel in Kathryn's car and got all checked in. Once that was all said and done, I went and grabbed Kaylin and enjoyed dinner with Kathryn, Megan, Logan and Kat. :) Kaylin was extra fussy because of all the stress and everything so we ended up saying our "see ya later's" to Megan and Logan early and Kathryn took us up to the hotel. Kathryn and I said our "see ya later's", shed a few tears, and hugged.

Katie, Amber and Jen came by to give last hugs and love, Kaylin got a bath and headed to bed around 9. I followed a few hours later after a shower I crawled into bed. Kaylin's wake up call came very early when I didn't go to bed before midnight in almost 2 weeks. I put some clothes on, dressed Kaylin and we headed to the hotel's breakfast area. Breakfast for us consisted of bagels, yogurt, coffee for me and juice and water for Kaylin.

Stay tuned for the next part of our journey, taking us from the hotel back to the USA :) (mostly because I'm too tired to write it out tonight.)

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