The week of June 21 through June 25, Nicholas went on a trip with his school class. I was really excited for him to see a part of Switzerland we had never been to, and have a chance to practice his French in real life situations. But the thought of him being gone for 5 whole days, with no chance of talking to him unless it was a dire emergency was really hard for Chris and I. Really hard. In fact, it was so hard, my follow-the-rules-no-matter-what husband seriously considered sneaking a cell phone into Nick's luggage despite the teacher's admonition that they were not allowed unless we had previously gotten permission from him. But in the end, Nick's worry of getting in trouble for breaking the rules overruled Chris's anxiety about not being able to speak with his son all week and he went without it.
We had to bring him to the bus stop in the middle of our village at the very early hour of 6:30 Monday morning.
We had gotten him all packed the night before, and even made sure he could actually walk while carrying his fully loaded backpack. (It was a close call.) Chris also gave him a nice father's blessing which I think served to calm our nerves more than it did his. He was more excited than nervous, and asked us to please stop referring to everything as "the last one" as it made him feel like he was dying, not just going away for a week. Hey, it's our first born in the wilderness going off on his own for the very first time and we were struggling with how to deal with it. We are very attached to our kids, so sue us. 🙂
I had given him money to send postcards, and was very excited when one showed up in the mail on Tuesday. It meant he was still alive. Hurray! He was very positive in his note, and we kept telling ourselves that if anything really serious happened, the teacher would of course let us know. No news is good news, right? The strangest phenomenon to me was how often I would forget Nick was gone. Calling him to dinner, looking for him before we left the pool, getting worried I had forgotten to pick him up after piano lessons. It gave me a glimpse of how hard it must be for parents who lose a child. Constantly forgetting they are gone, looking for them out of habit, and then being slammed with the reality that they are gone and never coming back, over and over again. Probably for quite a while, until it finally sinks completely in. But then, I don't think it ever really could. You would always be looking for them. So sad.
Thankfully for us, this time he was just on a trip. Friday afternoon, I had to take Sarah to violin lessons, so I wasn't there when he arrived back home. But Chris (who was working from home that day) and the other kids went outside to wait for him to get off the bus. This is the series of shots Chris took as Nick got off the bus and came around the corner.
They see him, before he sees them.
Then the big smile when the girls' squealing reaches his ears.
And then the big embrace of welcome. Hurray! Our family is reunited once again.