Home Sweet Home!

I am finally, FINALLY sitting here in my new home in Washington, and you wouldn't believe what it took to get here. Up until now, my entire romantic relationship with my now-husband was long distance with an average of one weekend a month together, basically. I fell for him so hard, so fast though, and with all of the time we spent on the phone together, I felt like we had been together for years. I was just recently talking to someone - another mother on her own who shared in the ridiculousness that was last Thursday night - about how you just KNOW when you're with The One. I realize it sounds incredibly cliched and just like every other relationship on the planet, every other girl in love with her rose-colored glasses on, but it's true - when you're with that person, the one you're meant to be with, you KNOW. Maybe it's different for other people, but for me I felt it with a certainty that was like slamming into a brick wall - there were butterflies all over the place, but there was also this clear-headed surety I had never felt before. It was definitely the first time I was ever looking through those rose-colored classes AND thinking clearly at the same time, and everything I was looking through pointed to him.

When we decided to get married, we knew we would have to spend some time apart while I finished my MJC class at the beginning of December since even though the class was online, the final was on campus. My final was on December 17th, and at first we decided that Vernon would drive down on January 8th because it was the first weekend after Christmas that he could come down. After a few weeks of being away from my husband, though, I knew there was no way I could wait that long to be with him. So, the next plan was that Faith, London, and I would drive up the day after Christmas - but after looking at the weather and thinking logically about making a drive like that by myself with two little girls in completely unfamiliar weather, we went back to Vernon driving down on the 8th. Our plans bounced around like that until I started looking at plane tickets and prices to just fly up there and mail stuff or SOMETHING so that we could be together sooner. Because Faith, London, and I had each gotten $150 discounts on future flights because of the 5-hour delay we experienced the last time we flew up here, I discovered that we could get one-way tickets essentially for free - we just had to pay for the taxes (which was only like $10 a ticket, which is pretty cool but soon confirmed the old adage that you get what you pay for). So FINALLY we decided that the girls and I would fly up on the 30th and bring as much of our stuff in suitcases that we reasonably could - which amounted to 3 carry-ons and 4 suitcases - and Vernon would fly down and drive the car back up.

Imagine my excitement at finally being able to be with my husband, to get out of the limbo I was living in where my home, technically, was 1,000 miles away, and I was married but not living anywhere near my husband. Weird, weird, weird. I've always been a wait-until-the-last-minute kind of person, and packing was no exception - although it meant that pathetic though it may be, the fact that I had very little of my own posessions came in handy in this case. My friend Carri, who is a master packer, helped me get everything together and within just a few days everything but a few big pieces of furniture were either in suitcases or in the car (2001 Pontiac Aztek, which contrary to what Time magazine claims is NOT one of the ugliest cars ever made, thankyouverymuch). That thing is packed to the gills, let me tell you.

So, Thursday arrives and with it all the anticipation of finally being with the man I love, having a month of long-distance marriage for what I perceived as a totally unacceptable reason (solely online classes used to have their finals online as well, which would have meant not being apart at all, but noooooo, I had to pick one whose final was on campus) be over. Our flight didn't leave until 7:15 in the evening, so we had all day to make sure we had everything together and say our final goodbyes. We stopped by my brother's work and my sister-in-law's house, then met up with Rachel (stepsister) and her daughter, who were on the way home from the Sacramento airport after dropping off my other stepsister, and then made it to the airport exactly on time. We parked right across from the Alaska/Horizon entrance and hauled everything in - which was interesting but mom and I managed with Faith dragging her car seat by its strap. lol - got our bags checked (did I mention that was 4 suitcases AND 2 car seats?) and said goodbye to my mom.....it's the goodbyes that were the only thing about this move that made me sad.

Finally checked in at the airport, I slung a carry-on over each shoulder, carried one huge bag in my hand and piled on the jackets wherever I could - I thought I was as well prepared as I could be for possible delays and definite freezing cold weather. We got upstairs and got some dinner - I figured we would be okay since even though airport food is expensive, even if we were delayed for a few hours our stomachs would be full and we could manage until we got there since we had a direct flight from Sacramento to Spokane - another thing I was excited about, since we usually had to stop in San Jose before continuing onto Spokane. My stepdad had called to let me know that my stepsister's flight to Portland had been delayed and that I should check on mine, which was right on schedule whenever I checked it. I was still pretty much expecting a delay since apparently that's just my luck (little did I know....)so I was ticked off but unsuprised when our flight was delayed slighly. We were supposed to leave at 7:15, which turned into 8:03.....then close to 9....and the next announcement was, "Ladies and gentleman, we apologize but flight 2142 has been cancelled. Please proceed to the ticket counter to make alternate arrangements." WHAT??!! Not even a several hour delay, no other plane, no anything- just no flight. Nothing.

I called Vernon first, of course, who thought I was joking and going to say "Haha, just kidding! I'm on the plane, I'll see you in two hours!" After like the third time he asked me if I was joking I said, "NO, I am NOT JOKING!" and I heard him say in the background, "She's not joking." I held it together while I was on the phone with him and then called my mom and cried, "I don't know what to do!" The only thing I could do was sling those bags over my shoulders again and lead two children - one distraught (Faith, who was crying "I want to go to Vernon's house!" which just made me cry because there was no way for us to get there that night), one pretty much just going with the flow but wanting to run all over the place. Again I wondered why I would get a flight that was so close to bedtime....oh, that's right! Because it was supposed to be a DIRECT FLIGHT.

We waited in a line that seemed to go on forever - we must have stood there for an hour at least. I could overhear that there were no flights on any airlines that went to Spokane that night, or even anywhere near Spokane. They were all gone and nothing was going out until the morning - that was depressing enough, but then they started unloading our luggage on the floor next to the line - they so very graciously gave it all back to us, and as the line dwindled and people picked up their bags there was still quite a spread of suitcases and car seats - and all but TWO of those items belonged to me. So there I was, standing in this ridiculous line with a one bawler, one runner, two sore shoulders, and no hands. (Which I think proves that the theory of evolution is crap, because if we all evolved from stuff like the theory claims, mothers would grow AT LEAST one extra fully functional set of arms, hands, and eyes with each birth. Possibly an extra leg or something, but I'm not too picky about the other appendages. Case closed.)

FINALLY, after my alarm goes off that says we should be in Washington (ohhhh, the irony) I get up to the ticket counter. Because we lived about 100 miles away, we got a hotel voucher for the night. We also got a $32.00 food voucher for the airport for the next day and the option to take a 10:05 flight the next morning with three stops or a 6:00 flight that wouldn't get there until nearly midnight. Remember how I spent all that money on dinner because I figured even if we were delayed for a few hours we would be fine. Yeah.... So I chose the 10:05, wanting to get the heck out of there as soon as possible even though it meant we would go from Sacramento-->San Jose---->Seattles---->Spokane. We also got bumped up to first class on the longest leg of the trip, from San Jose to Seattle. I pointed to the sea of suitcases and car seats that were nearly all mine and said, "Look at me. Look at all this. There's no way I can get it all by myself." So someone stacked all the bags on a cart thingie and helped me to the hotel shuttle. When we were on the way there, that's when I had that conversation about knowing you're with The One with a woman who couldn't have been that much older than me and was in a similar position as far as divorces, new relationships, and children go, AND she lives in Couer d'Alene, which is where Vernon and I got married.

A MILLION YEARS LATER, we were getting settled into our room at Hawthorne Suites, which is actually a really nice hotel that I pretty much detested simply by virtue of the fact that I was there. There was one saving grace, though.....Pepsi in the vending machine in a world of Coke. It only took us about half an hour to find the vending machines, which of course when the woman behind the desk pointed to the hallway, I did NOT see it right after you turned but instead led my girls through hallways, back outside, back inside on a wild goose chase for something we should have found in less than 30 seconds.

Faith had calmed down after a good half an hour of uncontrollable sobbing while we were in line at the airport. I was on the verge of bursting into tears of frustration at the very least that whole time and kept telling her to please stop crying because it wasn't going to help anything, unless maybe she wanted to direct those tears to the ticket agent. It was after 10 by the time we got to the hotel, but I was so glad they were behaving well I let them jump around on the big fluffy ("It's so fluffy I'm gonna die!!" beds for a little while and then take a bath before insisting that they really needed to get to bed because we had to get up early the next morning. I got up and showered, which was basically pointless because all I had to wear were my pajamas and what I had been wearing the day before, but I couldn't stand not having clean hair, and then got the girls up at about 6:45 and rushed them downstairs for the hotel's continental breakfast. We only had about 15 minutes to eat and then get back upstairs to get all the bags downstairs - got help with those again, thank goodness - and back in the hotel shuttle. We got there on time and a really nice couple that were on the same flight as us offered to help us get everything checked in and upstairs. THANKFULLY everything went smoothly from there, although let me tell you, it REALLY sucked to have to get off the plane in San Jose and wait for two and a half hours when the very plane we had just gotten off of was continuing onto Spokane - although first class was pretty cool. We had to wait a little longer than scheduled in Seattle because the crew that was going on our plane was coming from another plane, but we only ended up being about 10 minutes behind schedule.

There hadn't been that many people on our flight, so by the time the girls and I got down to baggage claim there was maybe one other person there. I pulled our bags off the belt while we waited for Vernon, who came in right after I got the last one off. This time and last time that I've visited, when I've had to check bags, he took me by suprise by coming in while I was getting luggage or taking care of the girls or something that had my attention so that when he walked in and was suddenly right next to me, it just took my breath away. There are few feelings I've had and moments I've experienced that were as good as that "this is my husband and I'm finally here with him" feeilng. =)

I feel like a different person now that I'm here. Or maybe not different, but like I've had so much of my bad habits and feelings filtered out of me just by being here. My husband brings out the best in me. He's exactly what I always wanted and needed and never thought I would find. A year ago I could not have imagined a life this richly blessed, this uncomplicated and happy. I've always been grateful for Faith and London, and they have always been the two brights spots and reasons to keep going, but we had a hard road ahead of us that no little girl, no person really, but especially no child should have to deal with. Now, nothing may ever be perfect since life never is, but it's sure closer than anything I've ever experienced before. I've only been here for four days and already it feels more like home than anything else in my adult life.

So here I am, only on the computer now that stuff has been cleaned - which now, would you believe, I actually LIKE doing?! - with London asleep on the couch, Vernon getting off work in a few minutes, and Faith will be home from her first day of her new school, on a big bus all by herself, in about an hour.....and I take it back. Sometimes life is perfect.

=)