day 213: wet northwest
In three weeks we will take our son to the Missionary Training Center and leave straight for Seattle. I mean, we won't go home from the MTC. We will keep heading north until we reach Boise, where we will stay in a hotel. I will cry a bit. I will enjoy the younger two kids and my husband, and then I will cry.
Crying somewhere besides home will be nice. I will feel cleaned out, both by the feelings and by the trip, and it will be cathartic. See, #2 will be leaving right in the middle of Spring break, after a hellish few weeks for me at work and school. I will be exhausted and emotionally spent, and walking past his bedroom might break me. In half.
So, I will do my initial adjusting while walking on the wharf and watching funny men throw fish at Pike's Market. I will think of my boy while I eat good food and wake up in the beautiful home of my close friend who is a recent transplant to Seattle.
On the ferry to Bainbridge Island I will remember the time we ferried out of Boston Harbor in 2007 before #1 left us. And I will be nostalgic. But not for long. Because this has been in the works for 19 years. Because I have known this day was coming. Because I owe Him.
And then I will smile and say a prayer. And it will be right.
10 comments
Seattle seems like the perfect place to cry. I love crying in the rain (or in the shower if it's not raining). Love the idea of being NOT HOME when the emptiness is new. And I can't believe it's coming so fast!
Three weeks. Wow.
It's good to plan...your trip, your sorrow, your healing.
My husband used to live on Bainbridge Island. :)
I hope that when my children are growing up and leaving home I will have the same strength of spirit as you have. :)
I can feel your ambivalence in your words - all the good stuff on the one hand, but it must still be a wrench.
PS love the panorama! :)
Great plan, will keep this in mind when I am getting ready to take my son the MTC in January.
Sounds like a great idea. A good time for a little get away.
We had tentative plans to go to Washington for spring break, too. But we decided we can't afford it. Enjoy it enough for me too. You've earned it!
I never understood the meaning of the word "bittersweet" until I took a son to the MTC. Now I get it.
And, oh! How I love Seattle! Does your friend live on Bainbridge Island? What a neat place! We lived on Mercer Island for 7 years, so give my old friends a wave as you pass through on I-90!
Pose with the pig at Pike's Place. It's a must-do.
As Denae said, bittersweet indeed. This post shows off your beautiful heart...well...beautifully.
And Seattle can be a truly wondrous place. I used to live ten minutes from there and not for nearly long enough.
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