Happy Birthday to my Daddio! I hope you have a fantastic day today and I’m thinking of you! Love you!
For my remainder of my trip I worked during the work-week, but escaped at night for a little fun.
On Monday I was lucky enough to squeeze a quick visit in with my Grandma with my Mom for dinner. My move to New York happened pretty quickly where I didn’t have a ton of time to set-up going away events so I missed out on saying goodbye to most of my family, my Grandma being one. After work my Mom and I headed over to my Grandma’s house to visit and go out to dinner. It was such a good time. My family has always been important to me, but add another couple of thousands of miles in between and that importance is what really keeps you stay grounded and know you are supported no matter where you may be.
After my short visit with my Grandma I was back in Enumclaw and at the Hardersens to visit little Faithy. Although, I suppose at some point I need to stop calling her that, as she is actually taller than me now (although I may be in denial). We decided to hi-jack one of their cars and head to Wilkeson to pick up some of my things to have a little sleepover. On the way back a visit with my friend Brittany was in check, as well as a trip through the drive-thru at Jack in the Box for some celebratory milkshakes (Faith is going to be in high school now). From there we headed back and got a couple hours of sleep in before I was awake again at the crack of dawn and on my computer to work.
I must say, after all of my travels I was well over-due for this thing called sleep.. ever heard of it? No wasting time when you are on a limited visit though! Tuesday afternoon was followed by my Mom picking me up, circa 1999 style, and heading to my Dad’s for a little dinner and some more time together. From there I was back in Enumclaw to catch up with my friends Bryson, Mel, and Jimmy at the Martini Bar in town for Trivia Night. I’ll just be very honest in saying you probably don’t want me on your trivia team. Of the 3 rounds of 10 questions I failed to answer ever ONE correctly! I’m certainly no dummie, but turns out I’m not very educated on pop-culture and movies from before I was born. Regardless, it was a fun time to catch up with a couple of my good friends.
By Wednesday my hours were numbered. I worked during the day and then was focused on cramming as much things of mine as I could fit in my extra suitcase. I’m not quite sure how I made it fit, but I did it! We wrapped my visit up with a trip to our favorite Thai restaurant in Bonney Lake and then we were off to the airport. This time, we decided goodbye wasn’t going to be so hard because I found my Mom the steal-of-a-deal airfare back to New York for Labor Day weekend (plus a couple of days). THANK GOD! The last time I was at Seatac I was flying across the country to a new life, and well, I don’t think I need a repeat of that experience. So it was a lot easier leaving knowing I’d be seeing my Mom in Septemeber, the Hardersens the next weekend (my next adventure), and my Dad possibly in August, but at least at Christmas. So much of a relief!
I am so thankful for the additional time I got to spend in Washington. While it still wasn’t a lot of extra time (I still had to work from home my entire stay) I’m still glad I got to do it. I made it back just in time for Father’s Day too! I cannot believe I hadn’t seen my Dad for 10 months.. as I said before, NEVER again! Now if someone had the winning lottery numbers that would make this whole situation a lot easier..
Anyways, I was glad to make it home and sleep in my old bed and see all of the lovely things my Mom has been doing at home to make her house even cuter. We decided that a BBQ for Father’s Day seemed very fitting so my Mom and I spend Saturday getting ready for Father’s Day. We took a little break in the evening and headed to the brewery in Buckley and caught up with my Dad, Susan, and a couple of my friends at dinner afterwards. Like I said before this portion of my trip was very last-minute so I didn’t get to see a whole ton of my friends, but am grateful for who I did get to see.
For Father’s Day we headed to my Dad’s and he cooked up some delicious burgers and we spent the evening hanging out, had a fire in his backyard, and watched a movie. We upgraded our Dad with a new Thermos to replace the clunker he has been carrying around the last (at least) 15 years.
Another portion of my trip home involved going through both of my parents’ garages in search of summer clothes I would want back in New York. I packed an extra suitcase so I could stuff it full of things. I was pretty impressed too because I ended up clearing out a lot more of my things for my parents too. I guess if you don’t need things after almost a year, you probably don’t need them. Of course I kept all of my keepsakes, for my arrival back on the west coast, but old pairs of work-out clothes and night-shirts definitely got sorted out.