Feeling the LOVE

There is nobody in this world who can convince me otherwise! My neighborhood is the BEST darn neighborhood EVER. Last Friday, we were "tricked" into stopping by the Hep's to give them a chance to say goodbye to L, only to find it was another surprise neighborhood get-together held in his honor. Everyone shook his hand and wished him well and assured him the fam here at home will be in good hands. It was a great night.

THEN, the next morning, while turning into our street from a last minute errand, we were greeted with this sight:

Every house in the circle had several US flags posted on their sidewalk, ours being the most flag-saturated, with banners lining our sidewalk AND driveway.

That night was a nice quiet night for the fam. The mood was subdued as we stuffed L's life for the next five months into three bags. We tinkered around with the new Wii Fit for a bit, and we all snuggled up for a Fam Och sleepover.

A king bed is nowhere close enough to providing a comfortable night's sleep for all of us, not that I got more than an hour anyway.

Day of departure: L was totally bowled over when he saw all the neighbors standing outside to wave a last goodbye. So, of course, I about fell apart right then and there.

Saying goodbye before stepping onto the bus.

After smiling through tears and savoring that last embrace, it was time for him to go. In a way, it came as a relief. There would be no more of dreading the farewell and counting down how much time we have left. Now, there's this feeling of the need to kick into high gear and shoulder through until June. There's an end goal, something to look forward to. And with such an obvious outpouring of kindness from this community, I feel secure I am amongst friends--and with that, I can't go wrong.