I don't even know how to describe how I felt on Friday. It was just the most surreal feeling I've ever known--logically I knew it was our last day in Midland, and that our house would no longer be ours, but I just couldn't wrap my head around it.
I've never sold a house before, since this was our first one, and I'm not sure if everyone gets this way, but I was feeling so territorial! We built this house, so I had my hand in every part of it, and it just felt so personal. We walked in for the last time, just an hour before it was to close, and I saw a "welcome" bag on the counter from the buyers' agent on the counter. It also had a picture of their family in front of {our} house, holding a sold sign. It really hadn't hit me before then, and the tears just started flowing down my face. In that moment, everything I had been holding in just came out, and it hit me like a ton of bricks that this was it. The house looked empty, but to me, it was still full.
I started to remember the big days--moving in, placing handprints on the back porch, bringing home our baby boys, blessing them in the family room, all the birthdays and holidays we had celebrated--but then I realized something. Making cookies on the kitchen island, campfires in the backyard, family movie nights and sleepovers, watching my kids play in the backyard, hanging out with friends, sitting on my bed on a summer's night with the window open, rocking my babies to sleep in the nursery--those everyday,day-to day life moments are really the ones I will miss most of all. Finally, after my own internal good-bye, I wiped my eyes, straightened my shoulders, and gathered my family together for one last picture.
We placed our keys on the counter, and closed the door behind us.
.....
Saturday morning dawned way too early, since Rick and I had been up late the night before preparing backpacks, snacks, suitcases, and going over all of our travel plans. This was the first time we would be flying as a family of seven, and we also had a lot of luggage that would be accompanying us. My best friends in the world came to say goodbye, and while I was so happy to see them, my heart was aching. I hugged them, told them I loved them, and tried to hold back the tears. When I got in the hotel shuttle that would take our luggage to the airport, I couldn't stop them anymore. The driver was so kind, and just told me he understood how hard it was to let go. By the time we reached the airport, I had composed myself, ready for the adventure ahead.
All of the kids were excited about the plane, except Ryan. He had flown many times before when he was young, but not for several years, so he was feeling some apprehension. We got to the airport early, knowing that it would take us a LONG time to get through security. I was glad we were flying out of a small airport--there weren't many people there, and we didn't hold up the line as much as we would have in a larger airport. We had ten pieces of luggage, plus Ryan's medication in a cooler, purses, backpacks, laptops, and a stroller. In that moment I was especially glad that we decided to not bring our own carseats, and just rent them with the car. Ryan's pump set off the alarm, so he experienced a little more of a security check than the rest of us, but we were still through much faster than I had anticpated. So much faster, that we were faced with over an hour of waiting time in this very small airport. Finally it was time to board, and we were off!
The flight to Detroit was short, and the kids did great! The excitement of the day hadn't worn off yet, and they couldn't wait to dig into their backpacks. Some of our good friends had prepared a travel kit for us, and it was chock full of special packages for the kids to open throughout our trip. It was definitely a hit, and would prove to be a huge lifesaver in the days to come. They couldn't find seven seats all in one place, so Ryan, Henry, and I were together, while Rick had the girls and Jack.
The second flight--from Detroit to Houston, was a different story. I headed straight to the gate to figure out our seats, since none of us were sitting together! The gate agent promised to work on it, and we went to get lunch. The lines were long and crowded, and as soon as we had our food, it was time to board. I hurriedly tried to organize the food into two separate bags--one for each adult--but I still didn't know where we would be sitting, so it was a guess. At the gate, we discovered that we had four seats, two seats, and one seat, which meant more splitting up. Rick took the girls and Jack in one row at the back, while Ryan was sitting in just the row in front of them. Henry and I were at the toward the front of the plane. We had to sit on the tarmack for an hour before takeoff--due to the malfunction of an overhead bin. Finally, after taping it shut and loads of paperwork, we were on our way. I totally lucked out, and Henry slept almost the whole way! ☺ Poor Rick wasn't so lucky, even though I thought I was giving him the easier job, lol. The flight attendant would come up and talk to me about "Jack-Jack", and I just had to laugh.
Ryan was extra lucky on our arrival in Houston! The pilot invited him into the cockpit to look around, then to sit in his chair! He spent about 10 minutes in there, while the pilot showed him how everything worked, let him hold the throttle, and teased him a little bit, too. He even asked me if I wanted a picture. Ummm...YES!!! I think the smile says it all!
Once in the airport, we had to take a picture with the cow, who was welcoming us to Texas...
I won't bore you with all the details, but the next hour and a half was excruciating. It involved our rental car, or rather the lack of one. Once again, they didn't have a vehicle large enough for our family and all of our stuff, and I was beginning to think we would have to rent two of them. After a walk through a lot of 2,000 cars (literally), a very long process of extracting a vehicle out of the middle of a maze of cars, unwrapping brand new car seats (not sure why this couldn't have been done ahead of time...), rearranging the straps to fit our kids, and buckling them in the car, we were FINALLY ready to go. You know that moment, that breaking point, when any second your kids are going to just lose it, and a chernobyl is about to occur? Yeah, we were there.
We headed to our favorite Mexican restaurant--the best EVER--we couldn't wait for our kids to try it! It didn't disappoint, in fact, they ask every single day when we can go back. :) Poor Emma, she was so exhausted, she fell asleep before her food arrived--she was just tuckered out. When it came, we tried to wake her up, but she just laid back in her chair and stayed that way for the remainder of the meal. I even had to carry her out to the car, and she slept the rest of the night!
We were all ready for bed after dinner, and couldn't wait to get to our hotel and sleep! Rick went in to get our keys, then came out with the news that we didn't have a room! We made the reservations several weeks prior, starting on the 29th, and at that time, that was the day were going to fly out. In my mind, I just checked off that it had been done, and didn't worry about it again. We ended up changing our flight plans, and I never called back to change the reservation. Since we didn't show up, they canceled it, leaving us in their driveway with five kids and a truck-full of stuff. Fortunately they had a suite opening for the next night for the whole week, which we immediately booked. They also had two separate rooms for that night, and thankfully, we could stay there and not have to move far the next day.
Finally, at 9:30pm (10:30pm Eastern Time), our kids were tucked in their beds, and we could sit down and reflect on the crazy, but virtually life-changing day we had just had.
At that moment, we were no longer residents of Michigan...we were on our way.
