It was Chris who left first for work. He called up our stairway (we were on the 3rd floor) to say goodbye. I came down and got teary. In his heavy British accent he bid me a farewell. Although i'm sure it's not proper, I hugged him. Thanking him a million times for all the time and hospitality he gave us would never be enough.
Next came Cecelia. Oh my, it was even worse. She cried too. Just writing that made the 'cry tingle' come to my nose.
They are addictive, charming, hiliarious, exceptionally mannered people. Why must they live so far away?!
Once we were all packed up, we ate our morning cheese and bread in the kitchen. Cecelia had left the radio on so we would hear if there were any Tube delays. So there we were. We had just had the most fabulous holiday (vacation) together and were headed home.
So, we slow danced and soaked up the last minutes of our trip.
Sometimes I really like that guy I married.
After a chilly walk around the block the time had come for us to pull our suitcases on the bus/Tube to Heathrow airport.
At the bus stop we chatted with the Babushka woman whom we had met earlier in the week. I will miss her too.
Once at the airport and through security we walked through all the shops and I picked up a book. The Tudor Wives. It's about King Henry VIII. I read it nearly 3/4 of the way through by the time we got home. I don't recommend it.
Our first flight was the long one. 9 hours.
I was seated in the middle row in the middle. Fine. I am good with that. Except, my seat neighbor (not Dave) met me by throwing his jacket on me. Really. I kind of had in inkling that I wasn't going to be too fond of him then.
As the first round of drinks were handed out, maybe 15 minutes into the flight, my neighbor ordered some red wine. Once again, fine, whatever. Except, I hadn't realized I would be wearing it soon.
Yes. On his first sip it went flying onto my right leg, blanket, and pillow. My underwear was now mushy.
Being that I had just recently finished reading a book called "Leadership and Self-Deception: Getting out of the box" I tried (desperately) to be cool. I laughed (a somewhat fake laugh, but a laugh none the less). He was oh so sorry and tried to mop me up.
With the thought of 8 1/2 more hours of sitting with mushy undies, no pillow or blanket, I wanted to tell him to take a hike.
Eventually my pants dried, although, my pillow and blanket smelled so bad they were unusable. It was at about the 7 hour mark that I had finally had it and excused myself. Dave asked where I was going and all I could say was "GIVE ME MY BOOK!" I found another seat and had a peaceful remainder of the flight.
We landed in Minneapolis at what I believe was midnight time in London. We were exhausted, but knew we couldn't let ourselves fall asleep. So with our zombie eyes we killed our 3 hour layover by making it to the Mall of America.
Cinnabon was anxious to welcome us back to America, and, I was ready to be welcomed.
(Two tired people at the Mall of America)
Our last flight was on a much smaller plane. I have never had a more uncomfortable and cold plane ride in my life. The lights were on, our seats didn't recline, I was freezing, and to top it off my only chance for heat was to wrap myself, including my head, in my extremely bad smelling blanket from the wine incident. The smell made me sick to my stomach. Sleeping was hit and miss due to the dreadful conditions.
Okay, I'm done complaining.
Finally. We could see Salt Lake. SO. CLOSE. TO. HOME.
(Our final self portrait at the SLC parking lot)
I have no idea what we talked about on our car ride home or even if we did. We were both drunk with exhaustion.
I do remember crawling into bed and thinking that it had never felt better.
There is no place like home.
