D-Day

We spent the last two nights at our friends Amy & Dennis house. So wonderful that we could stay there. They live down the street and as we sold Eriks car on Thursday, we could walk to our place to pack the last things, clean the house and for a final walk through both with the kids and without. We were able to toast together to the last 4 years and to have a big cry in a very empty house together. Crying about what and who we are gonna leave behind, about the uncertainties on our path but also tears of happiness that we were lucky enough to experience this and to meet so many wonderful people and make such wonderful friends that we call family now.

And then it is Saturday July 3rd 10 am. Our friends Leslie and Beni came by with the kids for a final goodbye, Nynkes friend Julia came by for a final visit and right before they all arrived I felt my back hurting. I wasn't sure what happened, maybe I carried something too heavy, but it started hurting and it got to a point that I could only cry as I couldn't move without a lot of pain anymore. I had tried to put some Biofreeze on it after taking a hot shower, but it got to the point that I literally couldn't bend anymore. And this was about 2 hours before leaving for the airport. To say I was not happy is an understatement. When our friends Alda and Kasey arrived they ran home to get me some tape, Amy gave me some painkillers and then Michelle and Wayne arrived, they would drive us to the airport. I have never been more grateful for Wayne and Michelles truck with heated seating, which made the trip to the airport bearable (painwise).

The goodbye from our friends at Sunflower drive was very hard and we cried for a while in the car. The trip went smoothly and arriving to the airport it was def a bit stressful to get all the suitcases out of the car and into the airport and figuring out where to go, especially as I couldn't do anything. Wayne and Michelle had parked the cars and came to help us, so that was wonderful. We had to get into a line for special luggage as Erik brought his bike on the plane and that took a long time. After that we took some time to eat some delicious Cinnamon rolls that Alda made for us and then we had to say goodbye to Wayne and Michelle, thank goodness this was the last goodbye...this day was not easy saying goodbye to so many wonderful friends.

Customs was still stressful as of course we had to take off our shoes. The taking of part is not hard, but as you have to take of your sweater, shoes, belt, take out all electronics and use about 10-12 different bins for everything takes a bit of time. And then try to put your shoes back on if you can't bend without screaming from pain and while trying to grab all your belongings but not being able to carry any...well, I guess you get the picture. So by the time we got through customs, we were both relieved and all cranky and had to walk very far (good thing that you don't know that before). And then we arrived at the terminal where we would leave from, only to see that the Starbucks (and 70% of the few stores in that terminal) were closed.

We had received a form to fill out that was a print from a copy of a fax that we could barely read anymore (I mean....really????), it was like a declaration of being healthy, but it also required you to add your test results to the form..STRESSS!!! We were told we didn't have to test before flying as the USA had turned yellow to The Netherlands only a week before. It took me about 45 min to an hour to find someone working at Delta that could tell me I only had to fill in one side, not the other. And no test necessary....pfffiew!

About an hour before we would start to board it started to rain. And then after about 15 minutes it started to storm and thunder really hard. Ergo....Nynke started screaming that she wouldn't get on that plane because she didn't want to die. I tried to calm her down while in the meantime I tried to keep myself calm as I was nearly having a panic attack. Of Course I didn't want the kids to notice. It certainly didn't help that all the groundpersonal were called to stop working outside and take shelter inside. Anyway, the storm went by and we boarded as planned. I got an icepack from the nice stewardess who had a terrible accident with her perfume bottle that morning, it must have been a bitter fight as it felt like she was drenched in that perfume:-(.

Anyway, the flight itself went by pretty fast. They did warn us that it would start off quite bumpy and that service would be held off for a while, but eventually it was only about 20 minutes until they started doing their rounds, so not too bad. I was able to sleep about 2 hours orso towards the end of the flight, that was nice. I didn't drink anything because I didn't want to have to go to the bathroom too often because of my back. We arrived about 35 minutes early, which is always great and actually happens a lot on the flight from Boston-Amsterdam is our experience. And when we arrived at customs there was literally only one person in front of us (That was probably also because we stayed in the plane until everyone was out ánd because I walked about as fast as the slowest turtle you've ever met). And then when we got to the baggage claim, our suitcases came out 1,2,3....etc. And also Erik's bike was there already, so we didn't have to wait for anything.

When we got out Eriks parents were waiting for us. (In Amsterdam there are still no visitors allowed in the airport, only officially one at a time). It was so nice to finally see them again after 2 years. They helped us to the taxi that we rented and then would come to our house in Amersfoort to meet us there. Pim had not slept at all in the plane and as soon as the taxi driver hit the gas, Pim was out. By the time we pulled into our street we woke Pim up, all our parents, sisters and their families and two of our friends were waiting for us. Everything was decorated in our street and when Pim saw this he said: "Mom, I can't have a party now, I am to tired I need to sleep:-)". Of Course when we got out and after we greeted everyone, the adrenaline took over and Pim did great. His cousins and his best friend were there and he loved it all. The weather was beautiful, my friend Elke brought my favorite cake and after greeting everyone Erik, the kids and I took a stroll through our house while everyone else stayed outside and had some coffee and cake. It was so weird to walk around the house that we spent so many years in before leaving to America and to see that everything was pretty much the same as how we left it. Some things were broken, other things worn out, but everything was the same. There were so many flowers which was so wonderful, there were many cards and my mom and Eriks mom had done a great job making it look great. The fridge was stocked, we had everything we needed. And from our family we got this cool basket with presents in it for all of us to open everyday for a week and another big box of welcome presents from Joyce and her family, put together by the kids. My sister and niece had made picture frames for the kids and had put that in their rooms and our beds were made and there were cards and some licorice under the pillows from our moms. So many fun surprises that went on the whole week. People stopping by to bring us flowers from their own garden, other bouquets delivered to our house, a neighbor who brought a beautiful houseplant and just so many people in the neighborhood that welcomed us back. It really was a warm welcome.

In the meantime though my back only got worse, and that was no fun. Because who would unpack the suitcases? We found a way and Nynke was a huge help with this. I couldn't have done it without her. It was a lot of work and where I would normally have it done by the evening, it now took 2-3 days, but that was fine too.

We can definitely say it was a journey, the past two months. But it was a wonderful journey, no matter how painful it was at times. We really are overwhelmed by the love we have felt from everyone in Raynham and also here in Holland upon arrival. We are at day 10 of being back now and are still overwhelmed by all the emotions. We are taking it one day at a time and will get there. I will write more about all the things we have done in the past 10 days here (I mostly observed everything from the couch, but still...) So more to come soon, but as it is 11:25 pm already here, and Pim has school tomorrow, I really need to get ready for bed.

To be continued! -XO-