Repatriation has happened!
After a full on five days of saying goodbye, packing, instructing movers of what to pack, disbursing of all electronics that are un-usable in the US, and watching all of our belongings in boxes being loaded onto trucks, we have arrived in the US.
Saying goodbye was HARD, so hard. We had a small (ish) party on Saturday night, which was so much fun. We had a mixologist who was making drinks with our alcohol that couldn't be transported. We have made some really great friends in London. What I love most about all of them is how diverse they are and open-minded and FUN!!! We couldn't invite everyone we wanted to because of CORONA, but we were able to have other gatherings to ensure we could say a proper farewell.
Monday, Lauren had 8 girls over for pizza and a hangout. We didn't have the capacity to do much else, as half the house had been packed on Monday. It was so nice to see all of her friends again one last time. They have all gotten SO tall over the lockdown. And they definitely ate 5 large pizzas. Teenage girls eat just as much as teenage boys!
Tuesday morning, we said goodbye to Archie. I am not sure he knew exactly what was happening, but he didn't seem to distressed. It is so strange to think that he arrived in the US 2 days ahead of us, but it was most definitely the best way to do it because it would have been SO difficult to have him under foot while the movers were loading the truck. He has enjoyed his time in Chicago I think!
Over Monday and Tuesday, I was at work and Drew was at school. So, Brad was at home with the movers to instruct them about what do.
Tuesday, I said goodbye to all my co-workers at Ursuline. It was a bit stressful at times, but it was a great first job after being a mom/household manager for 10 years!
Tuesday night, we had our final dinner in London at Pizza Express of course! It was a nice dinner.
Wednesday was a manic day. The first mover arrived at 7:45 AM to finish up with the packing. Brad was afraid they had left so much to do that they wouldn't be finished until 10 PM. But they made quick work of it. I went out to lunch with my quiz girls (minus Helen who had a work meeting and Gwen who was awaiting the results of a coronavirus test for her daughter.) While I was at lunch, Brad texted to say the truck wasn't coming but they worked it all out. They were all finished at around 4:45. Lauren went to have one last meal with her friend Skyla, and then we ordered our Ubers to Amber's house.
It was very sad to say goodbye to our wonderful neighbours. We all had tears, even Brad! We can only hope to have such great neighbours here. Even Saul was upset.
It was nice to spend the evening at Amber's house, since our house was completely empty. We stayed up late and we were up pretty early, and we headed to LHR around 9 AM.
The airport was pretty empty and the flight was even emptier. The entire flight could have had a row each and there would still have been rows leftover. When we arrived in Dulles, they took our temperature and advised that we should not go out too much.
We had Chick-Fil-A for dinner at Dulles, and it got really busy all of a sudden. The flight had more passengers than the London flight, but not completely full. It was a very quick trip from DC to Louisville. We got our bags and our very nice mini-van, and we were off to Mum Mums house. She was here to greet us, along with a lovely sign hanging on the garage door!





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