Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Deep breaths

I can't imagine that any of you don't know, but on the off chance that you don't, I left my ex-husband almost 5 years ago, and the divorce has been final for almost 4. Since then, Hannah has seen her dad twice. The first time was in August 2004 after the divorce was final. We went back to Missouri and Illinois (with my Mom) so that I could take a friend through the temple, and so that we could get our stuff that we left behind initially. The other time was last July (2007), when we went to Orlando for a week. Chris' dad wanted to take all of the grandkids, and all of us, to Disney World and to have us visit. He had never seen Hannah, as I was still pregnant when he and Dan moved to Orlando. So, despite the inherent awkwardness of the situation, we all spent a week-long vacation together. And it ended up being quite nice. Five years and 1500 miles make it a lot easier to get along. In fact, we're quite friendly now. And why not? We don't have anything to fight about now...

So, for the third time in 5 years, and for the first time on her own, Hannah is going to go visit her dad this summer. And she is super excited about it! She's also excited because she gets to be a "grown up" and fly on an airplane by herself. We've talked about how it will work - making it sound exciting instead of scary - and she is looking forward to it. We'll see how it really goes, when she has to walk down the corridor with the stewardess (I mean, flight attendant), and I'm still standing at the gate... But at least I'll be able to wait with her and accompany her all the way to the gate.

And it's a non-stop flight, so that's not so bad. I'll just make sure that she has plenty of little activities to do, so that she stays entertained and doesn't have time to worry. I'm hoping that I'll be allowed to help her get seated on the plane, but I'm not sure how that will work...

I think the hardest part, for me, will be worrying about her and how she is doing. She's pretty adaptive, and she can be sassy (I have no idea where she gets that...), so I know she'll be able to hold her own - but that doesn't mean I won't worry. And I know that Chris will take care of her - he's got a lot riding on this trip going well. But she's sensitive and he's not quite so...

But she'll be gone for a whole month! She doesn't always last through a sleep-over. Don't get me wrong. This is the first real break I've had in 5 years, so I will enjoy it just as much as I'll fret. I just want things to go well...

Worrying: It's what we do.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh dear.........such a LONG time!
Don't be surprised if she wants to come home sooner and do be flexible in letting her even though having a break will be nice for you. That desire for a quiet time will disappear in short order. I would be surprised if you two can stand being apart that long. When does this all happen?

Nancy said...

Good luck... I think her being gone will be easier than when she gets home and she's trying to figure out how to handle everything.

Anonymous said...

Your are so right Nancy!

Amy said...

Dude, I'm just so excited for this new step in your life. You've carried everything for so long that it's time you had someone share in the responsibility, even if it is just a couple of weeks. She's going to do great over there, and you're going to do great here. And I think Chris will step up and make it a great time for her so she will want to come again. I'll keep y'all in my prayers.

Becky said...

I'm glad you get to visit while Hannah's on her trip. Sea Ranch is awesome and waiting. . . :)

Ellie said...

Hannah can totally handle. She is more mature than me.

Ellie said...

It's time. To update.