Leaving back to Holland

Sunday Aug 7th 2022

And then it suddenly is the day we leave back to Holland. The past few weeks flew by so fast that I didn’t even have time to write about everything we did. I will try to catch up with that during our flight. We have ways to go as we will have a layover in Newark of 3,5 hours. And after that about 7,5 hour flight to Amsterdam. So I might even be able to write a book lol. Charging my laptop now so I can use it at the plane as well.

What a rollercoaster have the last 4 weeks been. But also what a wonderful 4 weeks. It feels as though it went by in a few days but also felt as if weve been here for 3 months, weird!

We have been so lucky to see and spend time with so many people we love. We spend extra special quality time with a few friends as they invited us to stay with them at their house. Which was so wonderful!

This week we were able to stay in our friends house while they were on vacation. That definitely helped reduce stress as we were able to have all our stuff together in one place. Also we feel so at home in this house as we have spend so much time here over the past years with them.

Looking back at this week, its hard for me to remember what we all did, so much fun stuff, but we also had to cancel some things. Some because we were a close contact friday a week ago, but also because it became a bit to much at one point. Off course it is all wonderful to see everyone and to do so much fun stuff. And how lucky were we with the beautiful weather that we have had for 4 weeks. But the emotional stuff is part of it too. We shouldn’t forget the “other” reason that we visited. Yes, we wanted to see everyone we love but we also “had” to take this trip.

As many of you know, the past year has been challenging to say the least. We all had very hard periods to get through. We are still struggling at times, all in our own individual way. Yes, we build our life back up, the kids are going to school and have made friends, we love the fact that we are closer to our family and our friends, Erik and I enjoy working again and we renovated our house which now feels like our home again. But that all doesn’t mean that we aren't still grieving about what we left behind in Amerika. Not just the people, but our life there and the lifestyle that fit us all like a glove. Adjusting to the Dutch lifestyle is still a struggle if we are really honest. We have realized during our time in Amerika that we need and want our own space. We don’t want to always “have to” show up to everything and we don’t want to plan months ahead if we want to see people. But it is hard as that is how lots of people do it in Holland. This often takes away from the time we have to spend with the four of us, or the time I need for myself and the time Erik wants to spend cycling. Also, the past year we needed the time for ourselves with our work, school and the emotional stuff and therapy that we have. This all together pretty much consumes all of our time and energy.

Being back in Raynham and seeing all our wonderful friends again, having the kids enjoy quality time with most of their friends and getting my coffee at Panera and go to all my favorite stores has been good. Driving around on roads that we can drive with our eyes closed. Realizing that it has been a whole year, with all the seasons passing, all the holidays celebrated, a whole schoolyear going by, has been insane. It felt as if no time had gone by at all. The main thing that showed the passing of time were all our friends children and our own that all have grown so much (both literally and figuratively speaking😊). It was so nice to feel that we were able to pick right up where we left off, everything felt so nice. We were able to see (almost) everyone that we wanted to see and I made sure we did everything that the kids had told me they wanted to do. Even up to having dinner at the Olive Garden and Pim going to Chic-fil-A with his friend Emma and Erik lol. And then even the Starbucks downtown Raynham (that was supposed to open last January) decided to open up especially for our visit😉.

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And now, fast forward 3 hours. We are now in the plane and were supposed to almost be in Newark. Unfortunately, the plane was a bit delayed. Now on the runway, stuck behind 1000 other planes that are waiting tot take off. No idea how long it will take. The good thing is that we have 3,5 hours overlap in Newark. So all the time we are standing here, is less waiting in Newark😊. Gotta try to think positive right. So we all took out our appliances to watch shows and me to type this. Good use of time!

As I can’t post this on my blog before having WiFi again, I will see if I can maybe start writing more about the past few weeks as well. Would be nice to have finished writing everything before being back in Holland😊. And maybe, just maybe, I will even be able to make a nice photobook of this fantastic vacation!!

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Again, fast forward…it is now 7.09 pm. We were supposed to leave Newark at 5:50 pm. The flight got delayed for 51 minutes soon after arriving at gate C98. After about 45 minutes we were redirected to gate C75, only to be send to gate C75 shortly after. About 40 minutes later we were send back to gate C98 again as our plane would leave from there. At least we get enough exercise during the long wait😉.

The wait itself is not the worst. The not knowing when you leave in combination with wining kids, not knowing when you should start drinking as you need to pee otherwise and the fact that all the appliances are draining their batteries before even getting on the plane is ugh. Especially if you consider the fact that there are plugs here EVERYWHERE, but you have to pay for them….WHAT?????? YES, You need to pay for charging your appliances here. Maybe that is normal in some places, but it is totally new for me. Thank goodness we will have entertainment on the plane (or at least, I assume lol). I sure hope so, otherwise we will have two very bored kids for 7,5 hours.

We just received a few vouchers for meals and as we hope to be boarding in about half an hour, Erik and the kids are now trying to find some food for them. I had a late lunch already, so I’m good for now. Lets see if I have any Wifi that I can use to upload this blogpost. The other weeks will follow soon I hope.

Before I would even be able to upload we got a message that the flight is now delayed until 8:30 pm. Lets hope this will be it!!!

XO