Saying Good Bye

The time came all to soon for us to head home.

The kids had gotten along so well. The Goblin Child and Sabbath weren’t too surprising, there had been some concern that Sabbath wouldn’t like having to share Grammy but she did such a great job of spreading the attention evenly, she must have been exhausted, and The Goblin Child had Different Papa and her aunt and uncle to be fascinated by. The immediate rapport between 8 and Truly was a quite surprising. They’re babies, nearly, but were best friends at first sight, interacting more than I’ve ever seen children that young do. Not that I have much experience with babies.

We always hate to say good bye but the parting was made slightly easier by lack of sleep and the travel packages mom always makes for the kids. Planning ahead of time, something I’m not capable of, she chooses and carefully packs, for each grandchild a very personalized bag of treats. We saved them until we had been on the road awhile. Grand Island to be exact. They slept until then and we listened to our audio book in peace. The first book in the live ship traders trilogy, Ship of Magic. (Dad, highly recommend it) This was a peaceful time, the last we were to enjoy.

At Grand Island they woke up, we ate lunch at Runza, then we gave them their bags. They loved them of course, as always. But it did not keep them entertained, we did not get to enjoy our book further much less finish it. The Goblin Child loved her dolls, insisted I read her her books immediately and ate on her snacks. Then she wanted 8’s tractors and he was not allowed to look at his own books, she must be read those too.

We stopped at Broken Bow to exercise them. Then encountered a herd of cattle being moved down the highway. Not a novel happening but somehow more fun and unique seeming when away from home. Despite, or perhaps because of lack of sleep there was none of the hoped for napping done for the rest of the trip. Instead we got to experience the dreaded “Are we there yet? Now are we there? How much farther?”

So much fun. But finally we did arrive and turned them loose outside to run and use up some of their pent up energy before we all collapsed, exhausted into bed. Glad to be home while wishing we were still away. It was good to see family and hopefully wont be too long before we see them again.