Little Kite Girl

Oh the trip home.  I can’t tell how you ridiculously fabulous it felt to lay on the couch and take a nap and open the fridge and find my Mom’s food and just…smell New England.  Our flight out wasn’t too bad- I was a bit uncomfortable but it was manageable, and we arrived late on Thursday night.  Friday morning I slept a bit and my Mom went to pick up one of my BEST GIRLS at the airport- Emily had flown in by 8am from Baltimore.  Friday we mostly just sat around and talked and ate- it was SO NICE.  We watched Fools Gold and Emily and I fell asleep on the couch for an hour or so.  It was an excesses of relaxation and conversation and food- and it was wonderful.

Saturday we waited for Christine to arrive.  She was driving up from Jersey to join the group, and when she got there we all headed up to Otis to attend a marriage celebration-type function for some kids in the church who had gotten married in various parts of the United States and then come home during the summer to share the joy.  The picnic was….well, I’m sure it would have been amazingly nice if it weren’t for a few odd interactions with people better left behind.  The funniest part of the whole thing, though was when I walked up into the party area one of the guys from church applauded me (and my belly, I presume) and issued a hearty: Good job! I love seeing him, he is ALWAYS the entertainer.

Sunday was THE SHOWER.  It was more of an open house- but my cousins came (including Sara and Cutter, who I stole as soon as she got there!) and my Auntie Paulette and Aunt Cheryl and my Scranton girls (minus Jess, we missed you!) and a myriad of other people there to visit and eat and just be.  My Dad’s best friend Del and his wife Kelly came again (the photographers from our wedding in MA last summer) and they took some more pictures at the shower.  It was nice because I actually got to TALK to them this time around- I got to talk to EVERYONE this time around.  Last summer it was just “How’s my hair? Where’s my lipgloss?  Can you hold my dress? Bye!” It’s hard to capture how nice it all was- so I’ll just let that do.  Thanks to my parents and everyone else who made it such a wonderful day.  Especially all you peoples who drove to visit and catch up.  It meant so much!

Monday we ran up to UMass Amherst so John could check out their MFA program- it was nice to get some facetime and some realistic expectations for what the program is looking for.  Then we went home and packed up (correction, John packed…because apparently whatever I pack he RE-PACKS…interesting huh? ) and headed off innocently to the airport.  I should have known at security when they almost didn’t let me through (temporary license, which finally sports my married name) and then the long lines to everything and everywhere…but I thought’d we be ok.  The first flight was fine- we got through it.  But the second flight…oh that second flight.  It was hours longer than it needed to be, and so uncomfortable- and I felt SO sick.  Finally I just cried, I put my raggy little blankie on John’s shoulder and just cried and cried because of how much I NEEDED to be off that plane.  It was honestly the most trapped I’ve ever felt in my entire life, and it didn’t help that they had the seatbelt sign on the entire time and the flight attendants didn’t seem to understand my absolute need to use the bathroom.  When they announced landing I said, “I don’t believe them.  I’m going to have this baby on this plane.  I hope there’s an OBGYN on here somewhere.  And a first grade teacher.”  We got home about 3 am (we were supposed to be home around 11, I think?) and crashed.

Granted, it was a bad trip back here…but it was worth it.  I’m so glad I got to go home and relax and really think things out.  Perhaps we’ll have some announcements soon- but we’ll see.  Still trying to work out this whole future thing.