Heading Home and Saying Goodbye

 

It seems like it's been months since I last saw David, despite the fact it's only been about three weeks and we talk several times daily. I've been packing, unpacking and repacking my big duffel bag in order to get all the essential things in (read that … boat stuff). I was pretty happy with the packing job until I found two more shopping bags full of stuff yet to go into the bag. Ugh!

I'm heading home today … home to David and Nine of Cups. That's the good news. The bad news is I'm saying goodbye to Lin and my mom and every time I do, it's a heart-wrenching drama. You'd think after having said so many goodbyes in our lives, it would become easier, but it never does. There are always tears and kisses and hugs, and sincere promises to stay in touch. It always takes me awhile to shake it off, recoup and look forward to the new adventure that lies before me.

My flight doesn't leave till 6pm, so Lin and I have the day together. Time to think about how lucky we are and much too much time to dwell on the fact that I'm leaving. We'll visit Bea and I”ll say goodbye to her. No tears there … Bea is always very philosophical about my leaving, knowing I'll return when I can. With Lin though, there is sobbing and crying. I'm the mushy one of the sisters, but Lin follows suit on these occasions and try as we will, we just can't avoid that final, blubbering, unable-to-speak scene when I walk towards my plane.

On the 11th Day of Christmas, my true love gave to me …

Eleven more hours of travelin' (and then some)

Ten hearts a'leapin

Nine frantic fixes

Eight bulky boat parts

Seven quests for hardware

Six shiny shackles

Five I miss you's

Four galley updates

Three e-mailed errands

Two bigger duffels and a

Christmas morning greeting on Skype

Goodbye David

 

David left to return to Australia a couple of days ago. His flight left at “way too early” o'clock out of Boston and Lin, Nick and I drove him to the airport. We dragged ourselves out of bed in the middle of night and braved the icy cold, dark night to make sure we got him to his flight on time and to hug him goodbye.

He'd packed two huge duffels crammed full of boat parts that he lugged behind him. A burgeoning backpack on his shoulder and a jammed-full carry-on on the other shoulder completed my last image of him as he disappeared through the Virgin Australia departure gate. My heart skipped a beat and then an overall sadness took hold. Lin made small talk on the way home; I was already missing him.

Now, in all fairness, we talked about his leaving before Christmas before he booked his ticket. We had never planned to spend this much time in the States and getting back to the boat and our lives is a priority for us now. David's argument for returning early was compelling: the flight was considerably cheaper than after Christmas; he could get a head start on finishing up the fridge and galley projects; and most importantly, he wouldn't have to listen to me complain about the fact there was no sink, no stove and no fridge in the galley. All valid points with which I agreed … then. But now, watching him walk away and knowing we'll be apart for the holidays makes those arguments less compelling.

On the positive side, we'll Skype daily and he'll apprise me of his progress. I'll get to celebrate Christmas with my sister and my mom which I haven't done in years. And I'll depart just after the New Year to join him on the boat … which will have a working galley again. It'll be a long couple of weeks.

Meet the Grand-dog

 

The Urban Dictionary defines a grand-dog as “baby boomers whose kids have pets instead of kids”. That's us … at least for our oldest son and his wife. They adopted Olive, a pit bull puppy, over a year ago, but we had yet to meet her. Now almost two years old, Olive is fairly well-mannered (for a two year old) and very loveable despite having to overcome abuse as a puppy and the social stigma attached to being born a pit bull. She had no problems meeting her grandparents for the first time and showed her pleasure with lots of licking, tail wagging, ball fetching and gnawing of rawhide chews (provided by said grandparents).

Having family spread across the USA makes getting together for the holidays difficult. We take what we can get and this weekend Brennan, Hannah and Olive managed a quick 3-day trip from Washington, DC to Boston for a pre-Christmas visit. Olive does well on car rides and unbeknownst to us, because we don't own a pet, many hotels accommodate four-legged guests most graciously. Since Olive goes pretty much everywhere her “parents” go, that's a good thing.

I saw a van the other day with an “I love my grand-dog” bumper sticker on it. I'm not thinking we'll get one for the boat though.