Hellos and Good-byes

Today was a whirlwind, full of saying hellos and good-byes along the way. I started my morning with Papa saying good-bye to Jocie and Molly (and Ben). My dad was coming with me to pick up Ava at the end of her dance workshop, and would head straight to the airport after that. The girls did really well, actually... although I'm cautious in my optimism. They are used to my dad leaving the house for day meetings and such, so I'll be curious to see if they expect him to be here again in the morning and then REALLY be upset once it sets in that he's gone home and won't be back to visit for a while.

We had to drive to the far side of Baltimore to get Ava. I'm not going to lie, I was pretty excited to see her and hear all about the fun she had during her weekend. She came around the corner, saw me... and her shoulders slumped. She was not happy to see me. At all. I would be told later she apparently thought that other people were going back to the hotel to have more fun and she was sad she wouldn't be there too. Nonetheless, it was kind of a bummer for me that my daughter was less than thrilled to be coming home with me. We got her and two of her friends whose sisters would be dancing into the evening and left around lunchtime to head back to Virginia.

I dropped my dad at the airport and said good-bye there. Then I dropped Ava's friend Molly off at her house and said good-bye again. As I pulled into my driveway I found our friend Katy there about to leave with Jocelyn. One of Katy's friends was performing in a children's play of the Ugly Duckling, and she had invited Jocelyn to go with her. So I said a quick hello and good-bye to them as they walked out the door and I walked in. No sooner had we parked when Ava noticed Molly had left her diabetes testing supplies in our car...

So it was back to Molly's house for me. I dropped of the supplies, said hello and good-bye once more, and finally made it back home for good. Jocie came home a couple hours later, and after a whirlwind day of comings and goings we were once again back to our original fivesome. I am glad we had such a fun week and weekend full of friends and family, but am just as glad to be getting back to our normal (albeit chaotic) routine in the days to come.