Departures

Today has been tough, very tough. It was so icy here that there were over 200 wrecks in this area by 9 a.m. Rick was at work and called to tell me to stay home and then Sienna called to tell me to be careful. She said that there was a ten car pile up on Middlebrook right in front of her. She also said that she had been evading the ditch all morning on her way home from her BF's house. I always worry about them when they are out driving. So, I left for work about 9:30. I made it there without problems.

Rick called me about 10 to tell me that one of his very closest friends had been killed in a car wreck this morning. I mean, this guy, he and Rick have been friends for 25 years. They have been close, like brothers. So, needless to say, Rick is struggling. It was a tragic accident and he will truly be missed by many, many people.

So, at 11 I left work and went to help get Chanel ready. That girl is so scattered. It really makes me nervous with her going to Europe, as scattered as she is. We finally got everything packed and loaded up in the car. I was trying so hard to be happy for her but today, with everything going on, it was hard. We went to check her luggage and she weighed in at 50.5#. They let her slide with that. Really the weight of the bag should be less than 50#. Her backpack, I think weighed at least 20#. When you are moving across to another country for 7 months, of course, you want to take as much stuff as possible. It was hard consolidating her stuff into one 50# bag. Hopefully, once she gets an address I will be able to ship some stuff to her.

She does at least have a place to live now which makes me feel so much better. I was so stressed out that she wouldn't have anywhere to go once she got there. She was talking about living in hostels until she could find an apartment and we all know that hostels aren't the safest places to be. She's now arranged to live in the dorm on campus. I think that will be really fun for her. She's such a social girl that she will fit right in. And she is so smart that I bet she will be speaking fluent french in no time. Just as a side note, Belgium is divided into 3 sections there is a french side and a dutch side and some other language, I forget what. But apparently as a universal language, many of them speak english.

She has no one to meet her at the airport and she will have to take a couple trains and a couple buses to get to the city where she is going and then she has to figure out how to find the campus. All on her own. I think she will be fine, but I know its going to be stressful. And well, she is so distracted all the time, I worry for her.

So I held back the tears until she was just about ready to go through security and then I just couldn't. I so didn't want her to remember me as crying and actually, I think I held it together pretty well until she was on the other side of the security check. And then Rick called and I just broke down. Couldn't help it. But that only lasted about 10 minutes. Rick was so good. He is going through a really tough time and he offered to drive to the airport to get me. He is always so selfless. I love him. Of course I didn't let him come and get me. I just had to suck it up and be strong so I could comfort him since he would be on his way home.

So, its just really been a hard day. I will feel so much better when I know Chanel is there and settled.