And here we are...

What a rollercoaster were the last 6 weeks. At the moment that I am writing this, it is 6 weeks ago that I wrote my last blog. At that point we still had time, and we still had our vacation in the Berkshires ahead of us. And little did we know how much wonderful things were planned for us as good bye.

BERKSHIRES We went to the Berkshires in the Memorial Day weekend. All our friends in Massachusetts don’t need any explanation about how that was. It was a very cold, rainy and yuckie week unfortunately. We were kind of stressed with everything going on and it is honest to say that the first two days did not turn out the best. Unhappy kids, unhappy parents, add a big amount of stress and exhaustion and some moving to the other side of the world stress and it was not all that fun. Thank goodness we were able to turn it around and we Kayaked, Fished and played boardgames and everything together turned out to be great.

FRIENDS GOODBYE About 6 months ago, one of my friends told me that she and 4 other friends wanted to make everything a bit easier for us during the move and they asked us if they could plan our goodbye. For those that know me well enough: that was very stressful, giving that out of my hands. But it was wonderful that they wanted to do it so we agreed and we only got some dates, the rest was a surprise. On June 13th we had to come to another friends house where all our close friends were with their families. They had a waterslide bouncy, a jumpy house, the food was incredible from Beni at Grand Slam and they all had the red/white and blue theme and even got us all a shirt to match the theme. It was so wonderful what they had all done. During the day we received a photo album with not just pictures, but so many people had send in pictures and letters for and about us all. The work that was put into that book was absolutely incredible. All the kids teachers had written something for them, staff I worked with and parents I have worked with over the years, and our friends that were all there that day had one or two pages as well. I can tell you that I shed lots of tears that day. Oh….and I haven’t even mentioned the amazing cake with both the American and the Dutch Flag on it made by Alda. AMAZING!!! What a day!!!!

LIMO A week later, Monday afternoon, I’m receiving a text from Alda that she is picking me and Amy up at 4:30 pm. A few days before that, they started to stress me out (while having a lot of fun together) about what I should wear. Can I just say that all of our stuff had literally just shipped the day before?! So no high heels or fancy clothes around. Anyway….they pick me up and bring me somewhere, blindfolded. While there they kept me blindfolded until they realized that that “one” friend that they were waiting for, was gonna be about 15 more minutes. Of course Im thinking by myself who that can be and then all of a sudden a limo drives up lol. As I’ve never been in a limo, that was exciting by itself.

We drove to Plymouth and had dinner at Eastbay Grill. If I’m saying limo, drinks and 10 crazy moms I don’t think I have to explain anything else then that I had a very very fun night. What a super surprise was that night and it just was so so so much fun!!!! These girls can party!!!

RAVE AWARD

June 22nd we had the annual RAVE meeting. It would be my last one so, even though it was the night after the Limo-date, I made every effort to be there so I could say goodbye to everyone. During the meeting they suddenly told me that I was the recipient of the RAVE award for exceptional dedication and commitment to the children of Raynham. I received a beautiful plack with that on it. I was very surprised and honored!

PARADE And then Sunday June 27th came. This one I was in on as they asked me if I wanted to be surprised or if I would want to help with reaching people. As most of my friends have 3rd graders they know most of the people Pim is friends with, there are not very much families I know from Nynkes grade and my friends practically know none. So I was glad they asked and kept it a secret for the kids. We had to arrive at LaLiberte School at 5 pm and they had decorated it all, it looked amazing. And then there came the cars. It was incredible how many there were already. And then to think that there would’ve been so much more if the local Dance studio hadn’t had their annual recital. So many people reached out that they were bummed they couldn’t have been there. But it was amazing the way it was. Lots of people drove by and a few drove around and parked their car to say a goodbye in person. How lucky we feel that that is possible now after the 1,5 years we have had. It was wonderful to see everyone, but also very sad. One of my best friends I would not see anymore, that made us both so very sad☹. And the kids too, it broke my heart. At the end we received a wonderful painting made by my friend Michelle who is a wonderful artist and it is a Rainbow with the saying on it: Don’t cry because its over, smile because it happened. Above the rainbow there were all raindrops made from all the fingerprints from everyone that joined the parade. What a beautiful gift! The tears didn’t stop coming. Thank you, thank you, thank you again to my wonderful friends that made us feel so incredibly special and loved. And a big thank you as well to all the people that came out to send us off.

SUNFLOWER DRIVE Our fantastic neighbors Sandy and Nora gave a pizzaparty for us as well. All the neighbors from our street were there and it was so nice. The had these cool cupcakes with We will miss you written on it and the next day we received a photoalbum with all pictures from that night, how great was that. We have been so incredibly lucky to be in that neighborhood. Our neighbors have become our friends, and they treated Pim and Nynke as if they were their own. Every holiday they thought about them and we will miss them so much!

GOODBYE’s So many difficult moments we have had, but also such beautiful ones. The last goodbyes with friends were so hard, but we feel so so lucky that we were able to have those goodbyes. Afterall a few months ago, this wouldn’t have been possible at all. So we have just tried to enjoy all the goodbyes. The sleepovers that the kids had, the dinner- and lunchdates I have had with friends and even with my one of my friends father who is very special to me, was just so wonderful. I was able to spend quality time with many. Towards the end it became harder and harder as time was running out. But I think we did good in general and were just so very lucky with the moments we did have.

The goodbyes I had with my closest friends I can’t get into further right now, I’m afraid I won’t be able to sleep anymore then as thinking of it makes me very sad. But I will get into that a little later maybe.

I will also write more about our trip back here, but so many people have reached out to me about everything and I just wanted to drop a little note here so at least everyone knows I’m still alive and kicking and we are all doing as well as can be considering the circumstances. But at this point it is time to head upstairs. Crazy to have the timetable turned now and realizing that it is 6 hours less for you instead of 6 ahead like we are from you now😊.

TO BE CONTINUED…