Summer Visitation

We celebrated the 4th of July with some new friends, which was fun and low key!

We had expected to get to bed fairly early as we had an early morning ahead of us... [sara was scheduled for a 6am flight to Texas] **ICK** Unfortunately, our expectations were overrun by our desire to celebrate a little of the our Independence! We watched many fireworks, small and big; some which inspired a "aaahhhh" while others made us close our eyes (i.e., strobe light type fireworks...not so good). The air was filled with the smell of sulfar, thick and smokey. We ended up crawling into bed around 11pm. NOT GOOD. Especially, when we had to get up and out of the house by 4am. Haven't had to get up this early since...yikes...when I went to court back in November. Bygones...

The morning came VERY early! The alarm sounded at 2:45am and "oh gosh, its that time already" ran thru my mind. So I get up and get movin... when Sara says "its not that bad once you get in the shower"... [hee hee yeah OK] - I think. I hit the shower and do my absolute best to look the part, since once her flight leaves I have to head to work. No rest for the wiery. Well, the morning goes without a hitch. We get to the airport, get her checked in [to which they informed me I can't escort her up after today unless I have a ticket myself, she's not an unaccompanied minor anymore :(], so we get thru security and we head to Starbucks (my necessity this dam early) - Sara downed a Rockstar on the way to the airport [don't know how she drinks those things]. Then we wait patiently for her plane to board, all of which I was doing just fine. As they start boarding... Zone 1... then Zone 2... till finally they get to her [Zone 3]. I keep telling myself [be strong, don't cry]... yeah whatever. As soon as I hugged her, tears started streaming. She then starts to tease me... "are you crying, mom?"... Anyway, I cried and cried... Oh and cried some more. YES, I know she's only going to be gone for a few weeks, but it feels like forever and she's still within eye sight. This is gonna be ugly! So she boards and I finally stop streaming... sit down and settle in for the generally long transition from boarding to actual departing! I cry a little more and finally they push back from the terminal. I watch her plane taxie down to the runway, then it stops and turns around... [hhhmmmm that's odd - I think] and then because I'm in such a fragile state (weapy), I think maybe she had a fit and they are bringing her back. Like that would be a good scenario, right? "Ma'am your daughter was creating a scene on the plane and just out of control..." Yeah, I'm thinking that would not have been so good. So the plane taxie's all the way back to the terminal stopping just outside the terminal, and sits there for 25 minutes. All I can think is "if there is something wrong with the plane, get my baby girl off it"... But alas, it once agains taxies and this time...takes flight! As I watch her plane climb, tears again start streaming... I'm like a freakin water fountain at this point, definitely NOT cute. No woman crying is cute, don't care who she is. So now, my baby is off on summer visit and I am ALONE! Oh gosh, that's such a sharp sound... ALONE. I keep reassuring myself...[she'll be fine, she's going to have fun, she'll be back] all of which inevitably make me cry harder. Ironic huh?

So now I'm on my way to work and my lack of sleep is catching up with me, shit its 7am (now) and I've already been up almost 5 hours, while most people are just crawling out of bed. I get to the office and do what I do... I discover that my lack of sleep can have comical affects on ones speech and ability to function on all cylinders. My boss grants my request to leave a tad early so I can go home and recoop and of course...cry some more! Meanwhile, I'm anxiously waiting to hear from Sara, so I can put my motherly instincts to rest and know that she made her flight and connecting flight, safely. Finally, I can't take it and call her...[sigh] she is ok and made it safely! I feel better but yes during my conversation with her I did... you guessed it... cried! Seriously, ridiculous huh... Oh well, she is one of my prides of joy, so I reserve the right to boo hoo over her anytime. :) So she is safe in Texas and off to visit...

I can only imagine the amount of tissue I'm gonna need when I get home today when she's not there to greet me and inquire about my day... [oh goodness that's making me cry, now] I need to get a tissue! I'll journal some more when she returns...