Last Day in Seattle

We had one final Monday in Seattle before we took a “red eye” flight to Texas.  Mike worked from home and the kiddos and I started our final packing.  We then headed for the Seattle Gymnastics Academy for some energy expenditure as Seattle was sending us off with a cold rainy day.   It was then home for some much needed kid naps and Mike and I kept packing up.  We realized we had much more stuff to “fly down there” than we had originally thought.  We ended up getting another suitcase and I believe at the airport we flew with 256 lbs of luggage, not counting live weight of us or the cats. It was a bit of a haul!

Back to the last day, after naps we got the kiddos ready and we headed down to meet our friends for dinner. Before going to dinner we sent Stella off with Kristie, that is when the tears started.  Kristie as many of you know was an amazing person in our Seattle world.  She was very loved and trusted by both Stella and myself and for me that made trips stress free as I knew Stella was in great hands. 

Somehow our last minute plan dinner plans we were able to have 4 families and Thomas’ closes friends join.  Eating with such a large group and so many kiddos it was a bit of chaos, added by the fact that the 4 of us were all emotional messes.  At the beginning of dinner Thomas started off by saying “he didn’t want to say goodbye to all of his friends,”  his Mama and Dada both had tears start flowing, me more so than Mike. 

We ate laughed and giggled and the kids all loved watching the cooks make the pizzas.  When dinner ended it was time to say goodbye and I couldn’t stop my tears.  These kiddos and women that we were leaving have been a part of so many of our Seattle memories.  So hard to close a chapter and the uncertainty of Dallas was still so fresh and new. 

It was heart wrenching to watch Thomas cry when saying goodbye to his friends.  It is something I hope we don’t have to do again as the memory is still painful.  Lets just say there wasn’t a dry eye as we drove away from the restaurant.  We headed home for the final pack up.   Eryn joined us to help with the kiddos and thank goodness she did as it was a bit of a scramble.  We were all emotionally drained and tired and needing to get everything into the car in a timely manner was tricky.

Before dinner I took one final picture of the kiddos going “round and round” the tree and our house as we drove away.  That house has a lot of wonderful memories attached to it.  From where we started when we moved in and all the love, sweat and tears we shed over it, it was a good house.  

After getting all packed up we started the trek to the airport.  It was a tough drive, Mike and I held one another’s hands tightly and neither of us was sure of what our future held.  Funniest thing on that drive was when Mike said “lets make sure that this is the ‘right move’ for our family.”  I reminded him it was a bit late to “make sure.”   Off we went…