They are on their way. On maybe 3 hours of sleep I drove them to the airport. The entire Kesselheim family arrived with Sawyer moments after I parked our car. The three of them proceeded to check their 6 fifty pound bags full of used soccer balls, soccer shoes, pumps and jerseys. Each bag was overweight by a pound or two and so they manipulated the luggage as best they could pulling out as little as possible. Mary Pat was really bumming that some jerseys didn't make it in. I now have about 5-10 pounds of used soccer equipment in a bag in the garage. Ruby fixed the collar on my jacket. Last minute instructions, hugs all around, pictures, smiles. Al told Jackie if Sawyer gets up in the middle of the night and is on a mission to go somewhere and do something shake him until he wakes up!
After about 2o minutes of hanging around saying goodbye near the check in we walked them up the stairs and said goodbye again. Before going through Andrew gave me one more hug over the security line. Jackie stopped herself before going and said to me - I haven't given you a proper goodbye. We hugged and kissed and those tears welled up in my eyes. My tears are love security. I told them I would wait until I could see that they got through security O.K. You can see the boarding area through some giant glass windows.
As they walked through security I walked down the stairs with Mary Pat and Al. Mary Pat told me that I should stop by anytime, especially if I needed help with Micah and Howie. I told her not to worry, I would be stopping by if for nothing else, just to say Hi. We're family now, I told her, like it or not we are family and I want to keep track of what's going on with Al as well. I still had those tears in my eyes and stopped to get a cup of coffee and then went back upstairs and waited for them to walk by with all their carry ons. It took them about 10 minutes to get through security, but there they were, Jackie's eyes looking for me. We waved, through kisses and I wandered out of the airport to my car and drove the hour back home.
Yesterday was final preparations. It rained on and off all day. We gave Buddy a bath. When it finally stopped raining I put down a new top layer of soil in the vegetable garden. I tried to walk the dogs, but it started to pour again. Howie and I watched the Mets get killed by the Yankees, 15-0. Andrew and his friend Grant jumped on the trampoline inbetween rain drops and played pool. Jackie ran down to the library and put some final touches on some bookmarks that local kids made for the kids in Kenya. I sat on the porch and read watching the rain. When the rain finally stopped Jackie and I planted the vegetable garden with beets, carrots, spinach, lettuce, some red onions and zucchini. Who knows how well it will do. It's a total learning experience for me.
There was a beautiful brilliant super bright half rainbow over Ramshorn Peak looking out our picture window. Always a good omen. I made dinner, a cheeseburger and guacomole for Andrew and Grant, Andrew's favorite meal. A chicken and pasta dish as well. After dinner I glanced at the television The Lakers were destroyng the Magic to win the NBA Championship. And then it was the usual last minute stuff, Jackie on the computer thinking of things, telling me things, making phone calls. Finally in bed around 11, snuggling with Howie. I kept getting out of bed and looking for things for Jackie. Howie moaning impatiently wanting those last minute snuggles.
O.K. I get going, need to wake up Howie and take him to his ride for gymnastics camp!
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