Farewell, good England, you will be missed.

We’ve always found it tough to relocate, but this move has by far been the hardest to bear.  We’ve made some really incredible friends in England, have loved our village, and of course have really enjoyed being able to travel.  The toughest person to leave, though, is my cousin Katherine.  We weren’t that close before - she’s 8 years younger and we’ve never lived near one another prior to both ending up in England.  I’ve really enjoyed spending time with her over the past three years and developing as close a relationship as we have.  We had to say our goodbyes at the end of the 4^th of July weekend that we spent doing our typical routine: talking, baking, laughing, running, eating, and taking Bailey to Hinchingbrooke Park for Sunday Funday.  Poor Katherine stayed with us the night before Braxton learned how to sleep, so she suffered with us through an entire night of him crying every hour.  I promise it won’t be that bad next time, Binna!  It was so strange saying goodbye to sweet Aunt Kate and realizing she’ll now be an ocean away.

Katherine, me, Bailey, and Braxton in Hinchingbrooke Park.

Bailey enjoying her 'Sunday Funday' with all the other dogs at H'brooke Park. 

We scheduled our movers to come a couple months before we actually left England so our household goods would arrive shortly after we returned to the States.  In the meantime, the military provided us with ‘stick furniture’… which despite its ugliness and uncomfortableness, we were very happy to have.  Everyone who’s moved with the military will understand the creativity that kicks in for that interim period when you no longer have your things… trash bags suffice as black-out blinds, an old bamboo pole and string function as a drying rack, and cardboard boxes become trash and recycling bins. 

"Drying rack"(We love our BumGenius Freetime diapers, if anyone is interested.)

Creativity is also needed to try to leave as little food as possible.  Over the last few months we emptied the freezer and stopped buying anything except cheese, yogurt, eggs, milk, and fruit.  The veggies and potatoes all came from the garden, and we were able to use random bits and bobs to fill in the rest.   I should’ve taken photos… some of the meals were surprisingly good (wilted a bunch of chard + can of black beans + last few sprinkles of paprika + browned onion from the garden + straggler clove of garlic over a chunk of prepared polenta that had fallen to the back of the cabinet) and some didn’t turn out quite so great (can of sardines mixed into boiled potatoes with a bunch of spring onions).  Especially in the last few days we did our very best to eat every single thing the garden had produced.  Meals consisted of gigantic salads and boiled/baked/roasted/mashed potatoes.  It still hurt to leave the baby corgettes, masses of lettuce/onions/spinach/etc, and whole plot of potatoes untouched… hopefully someone uses them!

B-man checking out the spoils.

Katherine wins the ‘use the dregs’ prize, though.  I challenged her to use the leftover cabinet and fridge things: flour, sugar, jam, Belgian chocolate spread (thanks, Ang!), lemon curd, etc.  There are no measurements when Katherine bakes, which both drives my type-A side crazy and grudgingly finds impressive.  She made up three batches of cookies – chocolate-ish sugar sandwich cookies, lemon bars, and vanilla/orange thumb prints, all of which were really tasty.  Chris stress-ate 90% of them but at I’m thankful we didn’t have to throw all those ¾ empty jars away! 

Aunt Kate showing off her creative baking skills.

The next week included goodbyes with our friends the Stewarts, who helped us drink some of the alcohol odds and ends as we chatted until late in the evening.  That Friday Chris took Bailey to Heathrow to send her to mom’s house (aka doggy paradise) ahead of us.  I also had my last haircut with the gorgeous Cheryl… yet another person I’m sad to have to leave.  The thought of finding a new hairdresser shouldn’t seem overwhelming, but it’s just the tip of the iceberg on all the life things we’ll have to re-figure out in our new locale.

Our final week was especially full of ‘lasts’.  We were blessed with absolutely gorgeous weather for our last Friday swim at Hinchingbrooke Park… we just showed up to chat and say our goodbyes, having vowed to never swim with a wetsuit again!

Friday nights at the lake.  We did a lot more talking than swimming this year!

The next morning, sweet Holly watched Braxton so we were both able to participate in our final Saturday Park Run at the same park.  It was a bittersweet time, as it’s always fun to see everyone, Chris hit run #50, and we got a shout out, but was quite sad to think about not having that be a part of our lives anymore. 

A few hours later, again at the same park, our Tri club had its annual club BBQ. We watched as the Juniors ran a marathon relay around the park and ate lot of yummy food and cakes. 

Leave it to the Spanish dude to cook a paella for a BBQ :) (It was delicious, thanks Ricardo!)

 

Coach Andy explaining the Junior's marathon relay.

So sad to say farewell to Andy & Deb and the Wren family.

The Sunday held another BBQ send-off by our NCT (prenatal class) friends.  I’ve been so thankful for their friendship during the tough first few months of Braxton’s life and am sad to no longer be able to watch their babies grow.

Andy &Ali's daughter Madison; Michaela & Dan's daughter Daisey, our Braxton, and Nic & Andy's son William..

Chris’ last official day at work was Tuesday the 15^th.  The dental clinic threw him a very sweet goodbye lunch, where LtCol Fair said some really kind words about Chris' work ethic and positive influence over the entire med group before coining him.  I was totally surprised that he shed a couple tears, and then was even more surprised when LtCol Fair called me up and also coined me!  NOW I know how to ‘accept’ the coin (by a special handshake), but at the time had no idea and definitely made it awkward by hugging her.  I’ve come a far way from saluting the gate guard coming on to base the first time six years ago (note to everyone reading: don’t EVER do that as a civilian) but apparently not quite far enough.  Hehe.

Base architect slash workout fiend (and friend) Emmanuel.

Chris with LtCol Fair.

I was coined as well!

Some of the hardest farewells were to our great friends the Leaches and the Paynes.  The three of our families landed in England around the same time and as often happens in military communities, we were all looking for new friendships.  Randy and Courtney Leach and their kids Andrew, Luke, Adam, and Lacy grew to become an amazing extension of our family.  Although they’ll never be replaced, we hope to make friends as dear in North Carolina.  We’re a little nervous going to a location without the people turnover… will people be open to allow new friends into their lives or will they already be firmly established in their own friendships? Ryan and Angela Payne and their kids Rooke, Gretchen, and Bridgette lived just across the street and also became the dearest of friends.  I’m so thankful especially for Angela for being such an example to me of a patient and kind mother.  She and Courtney were so…. real.  And zero drama.  I love them!

Me and Angela at the neighborhood playground.

 

Rooke, Gretchen, and Bridgette (who LOVES 'Baby Braxton').

 

We had a sweet walk around the neighborhood that last evening in our house on Horseshoes Way.  As usual, Braxton was really, really excited whenever we passed a tree!

Chris and B at our street sign.

"Uncle" Jim's garden absolutely put ours to shame. 

 

The next morning was chaotic.  We woke up, the stick furniture was picked up at 8, we cleaned and packed until the housing folks came to get our keys at 11.  Chris dropped me and Braxton off at our friends the Gregory’s house while he had his ‘final out’ appointment and dropped off the rental car.  We ate a hasty lunch (cheesy eggs paired with some amazing beer from the Gregory’s own trip to Belgium) and were picked up by the courier at 2:30.  The whirlwind over, all three of us fell asleep within minutes and were awoken by the courier as we pulled up to our hotel in London!

Me and Sarah squeezing out the last couple minutes of hang-out time before we went to London.

And I’m usually not one for quotes but:

May the road rise up to meet you, may the wind be ever at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face and the rain fall softly on your fields. And until we meet again, may God hold you in the hollow of his hand. ~Irish Blessing

No distance of place or lapse of time can lessen the friendship of those who are thoroughly persuaded of each other’s worth. ~Robert Southey