(Tina) We made it through! The flights home weren’t so bad – not as good as on the way there, but not as bad as the couple with the baby who cried most of the time. Charlie suffered a bit from his ear and extreme homesickness, and neither of the twins slept as much as we’d hoped, but we made it. We got off to a “bumpy” start when while on the way to the airport Friday night, our driver hit a kitten on the road. He apologized and stopped the car to go check on it. We thought he would just move it to the side of the road, but instead he put the dead cat in a bag and put it under his seat. He explained that he would take it home and bury it and do a blessing for it. It sounds creepy now that I’m writing it, but it was actually really sweet and demonstrates how much the Balinese people honor life and death. Oh and another "bump" was when we lost Charlie momentarily at the airport. The porters were rushing through with our bags so we were trying to keep up with them. I think Charlie must have veered off at some point and started following a different porter because suddenly he was gone! We started yelling his name throughout the airport and nearly abandoned Eliot and Sophie while looking for Charlie. Wouldn't that have been great? Losing a child and then losing the other two children while looking for the first lost one?! Thankfully, we found him and he wouldn't let go of our hands the rest of the time. Tragedy averted!
After too much time waiting in the airport, we were happy to find that the flight was pretty empty so Eliot managed to stretch out and sleep most of the first flight. The rest of us weren’t quite as lucky, but we managed. The second and longer leg of the flight was fine because of the in seat entertainment. We watched some movies, played some games, snoozed a bit, and tried to decipher what exactly they were serving us. For one meal I was truly baffled with the contents of my tray but could tell that it was supposed to be combined somehow but I wasn’t sure how. I decided to just taste each ingredient and would mix what I liked. Bad idea, separate the ingredients were awful, so I’m sure together it wouldn’t have been any better. I was sorry I woke up for that one! And we finally stopped ordering meals for the kids because there was nothing on there that they would even touch except for the occasional bread roll. They were even leery of the bread though because one time a perfectly innocent-looking bread roll turned out to be stuffed with some mystery meat and gravy.
Needless to say, we are happy to be home. Jetlag is being tricky this time, luring us into believing we were fine on Monday but then kicking our butts on Tuesday. Jim had to come home from work early because he just couldn’t function, Eliot did fine with his first day back to school but then fell asleep right before dinner and wouldn’t wake up. They all went to bed at about 6:30, I crashed on the couch at 7:30 and woke to the kids making noise in their room at about 3am. Oh, I should say that they convinced me that they really wanted to sleep all together like in Bali, so I moved Sophie’s bed into the boys room and we’re making her old room a play room. Big mistake so far! When I stumbled into their room to see what was going on, I found Eliot sitting on the top railing of his bunk bed, with his rice farmer hat on, Charlie and Sophie also in the top bunk and Santana music playing on his clock radio. They had asked for a cd to play in there the day before, but I never imagined I’d be hearing it at 3am! They jumped when I came in and told them to get in their own beds NOW. I tried not to be cranky. I understand jetlag and am suffering from it myself feeling wide awake at 4am each day, so I tried to explain that to beat it you have to pretend to be asleep to fake your body into it. Lay still, close your eyes, and don’t talk and if nothing else you will at least get a little rest. No going with those three so I tried laying in there with them to be the police. Still no use. I finally gave up, put Eliot in my bed so he could hopefully get some sleep to function at school, and put myself on the couch. Charlie and Sophie still messed around, didn’t sleep at all, and have been buzzing around here like they are on caffeine. I take it they were a little rambunctious at school since the teacher told them to get some rest before they come back. Today is tough love jetlag therapy though. No napping or spontaneous unconsciousness before dinner. I’m keeping them busy all day, feeding them early, and hoping that a slightly early bedtime will get them back on track. It’s a good thing I bought so much Bali coffee – I need it!
Reflecting on the trip, it really was a great experience. I won’t say “once in a lifetime” because I’m sure we’ll do another mini-sabbatical someday, but I think we’ll plan shorter vacations for a while at least. It’s so great to feel like we can travel again if we want to, not strapped by the feeling of it being more trouble than it was worth like before. This was not easy travel, so I feel like just about anything else we want to do will be a piece of cake. I love how resilient the kids are and us too. I love how open minded they are to different people and different ways of life. I thought they’d come back with expanded palates, and they have, but not as much as I’d hoped. At least they learned that if they didn’t like the options that plain rice was a perfectly suitable meal with a lot less complaining that we get from them here. I would have guessed that Eliot would have been totally freaked out by the big bugs and bees, but I was surprised to see him just blow a bug off of his knee without even flinching. I hope he still remembers that when summer rolls around. I love that after a month with only paper and colored pencils to play with, the first thing they did when they got home is get out the construction paper, scissors, and crayons creating something new that came to them on the trip home. It inspires me to pare down on all the stuff here that they won’t even miss when I pack it away. That’s a project Jim and I will do when we can manage to stay awake for longer than half an hour after the kids go to bed. After 24/7 parenting, I was also reminded how important friends are for the kids and for us. Sure, the kids are great friends to each other when they are conspiring to be quiet and have a dance party at 3am in their room, but they are pretty tired of each other and us. I know I need adult time with Jim and my friends in order to be present and willing as a mother. In the words of the airlines, I need to “put on my own oxygen mask first before assisting others.” That is something we’ll be working on in the very near future. I thought the weather would be a big shocker or a downer, but we’re not really minding the cold. I was kind of taken aback by the lack of green around here. After having so much of it around, I kind of forgot what winter looks like. I must get my house plants back soon so I can at least have some green inside!
Thanks for following our adventures and for the making us feel missed and welcomed home! We are so happy to have such great people in our lives.
No comments:
Post a Comment