Adversity

Your mind has to be right to overcome adversity and all four of us were facing our biggest challenge for sometime, because we are all suffering from JETLAG!

I think I have managed mine quite well, not allowing myself to sleep too much at the wrong time, but sleeping or napping when I felt I could not go a step further unless I gave in.

Mommy slept for three hours yesterday morning which was just her total exhaustion from not sleeping at all for nearly two days prior. We followed her to DIA which she navigated rush hour traffic, and then through 4 airports and on 3 flights with a missing taxi at the end which could have tipped her or anyone over the edge. So after such a long nap in the morning and cooking tea later in the day she felt like she needed a bath and “tucking in” properly and by 10:30 she was happy in her own bed.

Lincoln just sleeps and does not seem to worry too much about when, having been woke up by Mommy after her sleep he fell back to sleep as soon as her back was turned but managed to stay awake until “tea – bath – bed” brought closure on the longest day.

Reagan struggled because we allowed her to manage herself which in hindsight was a huge mistake for her me and especially Mommy because 12 tear old just leave me alone I can do everything myself, was awake most of the night waking us up to say she can’t sleep. I would have throttled her if Mommy had not taken charge at 12 then 2…4 and finally when morning broke and it was time to get up and get ready for school.

I took Billy for a walk because I was told my temper would not help and thought that was the correct call as the house was calm. Upon my return, I could hear Mommy screaming at someone, not wanting to get involved I started to take my boots off as Lincoln came into the kitchen solving the “who was getting shouted at” question.

After a couple of minutes Mommy came down and asked me to be the voice of reason, and for the next 10 minutes I coaxed a very reluctant tired Reagan into getting ready for school, also managing her pathway to the door, while Mommy got Lincoln off and making Reagan’s lunch up too. We had agreed Mommy would do her hair which gave Reagan  a last chance to plead with Mommy not to send her to school.

It was just too much for Mommy to see her daughter so distressed that she uttered the words “she can’t go to school like that” which was the chink the slightest crack in our resolve Reagan needed to win it was she was looking for and there it was. She started to go back upstairs and I blew my fucking mind at her knocking over a chair to go scream at her….

To cut along story short, Reagan went to school and stayed all day even if it took Mommy to walk her there and then call the school later to explain why our jetlagged daughter was feeling the way she was.

We all faced a pretty hard day and I am proud of my family for ‘surviving’ today but especially proud of Reagan who given no choice managed to go beyond what she thought she was capable of and be happy about it too!

Tomorrow’s just another day a hurdle maybe but for now we are all about to go to bed at UK bedtime fingers crossed we all get a good night’s sleep!

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Home

Finally made it home at 9am after 3 flights and a taxi ride, we were all very tired and after getting through the door and eating a snack 3 of us were asleep. Lincoln laid on the couch and pulled the electric blanket over him and was asleep almost immediately, Reagan had some toast turned the heater on in her room and put a film on, she was not seen again for 3 hours and didn’t see any of the film. Mommy just crawled into bed and went to sleep and she slept for 3 hours, too.

I decided to work as I had planned to do before all the delays and it was very difficult to concentrate but managed it until 3pm when my body just shutdown but before it did I managed to sort out 4 of our 6 suitcases and get us well on the way to unpacking.

It’s 21:30 now and we are all tired again so we are all off to our own beds hopefully to prepare for work and school tomorrow.

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The hardest few hours

No matter how hard it got last night Jamie never laid any of her pain on me because she knew how bad it would make feel. I know she didn’t sleep much, if at all, I heard her sobbing a lot until her body gave up and she was physically sick. I felt her  eventually crawl into bed beside me and it was all I could to just cuddle up to her and let my body warm hers, I didn’t say anything because I knew it was pointless, her heart was broken and no words were ever going to mend it.
I probably managed a couple of hours sleep and lay awake until she got up at around 4am once up we decided there was no point trying any longer and that was our queue to finish up packing get the car loaded and prepare to say our farewells.

I always feel immense guilt each time Jamie suffers like this, because she makes me so happy, but that comes at a cost to her. I always realise this and always make sure I put her above all else every day!

The goodbyes were heartbreaking for all of us and it was especially touching to see both children show such empathy for their Moms sadness at having to leave her Mom, even though it was almost as hard for them to leave Grandma. To drive away from Pam, Mom Grandma while she stood at the curb waving was terrible.

As Jamie fought her grief and sadness to navigate to DIA she said “Right now, at this moment I would give it all up, everything and stay, I feel that bad…”

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Another day was never enough!

We started to say our goodbyes tonight 24 hours after we should have said all of them, but even after spending the whole extra day with Grandma, it was never going to be enough.

Tomorrow will be the hardest goodbye EVER when, yet again, we have to leave and let go of people we love.

When Nemily Jason and Jordyn said goodbye and went home, it was just a glimpse of what 06:30 in the morning will look like…

I have a lump in my throat already

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We’ve been cancelled.

We woke to rain and snow, so it was good that today was our leaving day. It was better to be travelling than sitting around moaning about the weather. I went to Micro Centre with Cliff, another chance to bond and get to know him, he has been a lot different this trip and I hope he has enjoyed my company too, anyways we got some access points to extend their WiFi coverage at the house and maybe save them a few bucks in the long run by spreading the mesh coverage over both houses and cancelling one of the broadband supplies which he was REALLY interested in.

When we got back from Micro Centre, Jamie was already on the phone to the airline trying sort out the flights after receiving an email saying the New York to Manchester flight tomorrow had been cancelled due to technical issues(?). So from having a lazy afternoon before the inevitable goodbyes we were thrown into rearranging our whole lives for the next 2 days. Jamie was amazing arraging flights for Sunday maorning from DIA to Chicago then to Dublin and finaly to Manchaester on Monday morning, she contacted budget to extend the car hire for 2 more days, contacted her monday clients to reschedule them. We had to sort out two more nights accomadation, luckily our landlords were very accomadating and just agreed to invoice us for $500 per night for two nights (which should soften the blow, if you know what I mean?) Billy and Sasha have to be retrieved luckily Chris and Kate stepped up and said they would get them and take them to the house (the cat will be fine with food and water for a day or so, Billy will need to be at least let out if we can not find anyone to walk him Sunday night, but there shouldn’t be any shortage of takers for that but will need to arrngae that tomorrow due to it being middle of the night now back home. Schools will need to be contacted I will need to contact at least Rob to inform him of my travel plan rearrangements, which is wierd today is almost the first time I have thought about work since Jamie told me to uninstall Outlook from my phone on day 1 of our trip two and a half weeks ago, that is definately thefirst time I have completely disengaged from my job for any amount of time since 2011.

We will continue to make new arrangements throughout tomorrow and make the best of having an extra two nights of vacation spent with Jamie Reagan and Lincoln being with Grandma, non of them seem that bothered about that senario as I write this blog they are all sitting in the lounge waticng Jungle Book enjoying eachothers company!

It could have been a whole lot worse if we had got to DIA before the cancellation but it would have been truely horrific if we got to JFK and were atranded there! Our new flights are a lot more palatable actually even tough it has taken some organising we now fly much more direct even if we have 2 changes we now check our bags at DIA on Sunday morning and board our first flight at 10am to Chicago then a short layover before boarding our next flight to Dublin and arriving in Manchester at 7am knocking 14 hours off our original plans.

Coping with cancelled flights…
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The last meal

I had a flashback this afternoon as I sat chatting to Cliff out back and Jamie joined us, they were in conversation and I suddenly thought of a photo Jamie sent to me on arriving at her parents home for a Friday night BBQ. When I mentioned it she said oh yeh remember Dad when I used to cycle here after work and you would cook. He immediately smiled and said I do, those Friday nights were when our relationship began to repair and the bonding began, then she goes and drops the the bombshell that she’s moving to England? His smile remained while he told me that it was the best thing that happened because it allowed her to realise her potential, and how proud he was of her!

It made me feel better hearing that but I also realise that all our conversations are now starting be a little philosophical and reflecting on our imminent departure. Tomorrow will be heartbreaking and it will require me to hold it together and manage 3 broken hearts on our trip back home but that’s for tomorrow, tonight we all went out to eat at Denvers oldest restaurant The Buckhorn Exchange

Cliff and Pam have shown us so much great hospitality and spent an awful lot of money on us during our stay and yet again they paid this evening. It was superb for all around, my steak was cooked to perfection and tasted sublime, I just wish how they get that much flavour into a piece of steak?

It was nice to come back to the house and I could see the desperation of Jamie to make this evening last knowing that tomorrow we will be at DIA waiting to board a plane home….

Tomorrow will be tough!

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The Cheesecake Factory

It was Jordyns birthday, so we planned on meeting him at the zoo later in the afternoon after he finished school. We had a couple things to do in the morning not least go get him present so we headed to Target Reagan wanted to go to Sophora and there was one next door so it worked out great. We left there and headed straight to the zoo and it was sweltering I had not really eaten and I thought I may keel over at any point but thankfully some cloud cover appeared just as the birthday boy did and we had a really good couple of hours there.

A quick dash next to The Cheesecake Factory calling briefly at the house to shower and change we struggled with the long day and over stimulation before going back to open presents by that time I was dead on my feet. Fortunately, I battled through and the day ended with Cliff and me doing some bonding on the porch while the kids played with all of the presents….

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Breckenridge

A couple of months ago Jamie booked an Airbnb in Breckenridge to coincide with her moms and my birthday and it seemed so far off but all of a sudden we were in the car driving into the mountains. At this point I must mention the sheer panic at McDonald’s when Jamie lost her phone, but after profiling every customer in there it was found in the car where she’d left it!

Anyway the weather was glorious and the journey was nothing like I’d imagined for the last couple of months clear skies clear roads and very little evidence of “the best snow for 20 years” We’d promised the kids snow up to their necks and fun like they could never imagine and it wasn’t until we almost entered the town that we saw proper snow. At the lodge we stood in amazement at this $2m house with breathtaking views of the mountains and snow 3ft deep all around us.

There were 4 huge bedrooms 3 en suite massive kitchen dinner, movie room games room balcony overlooking the mountains jacuzzi hot tub just for starters. After entering the property and getting settled we took full advantage of the weather which by this time, about 5pm, was in the 70’s easily and it was fantastic to relax on the veranda drinking wine with my in-laws. As soon as that sun dropped below mountains though the temperature plummeted and it made you want to go inside after a short while, but that meant a roaring fire pool, hot tub, TV and great company washed down with beer and wine until bedtime.

The stars were amazing at that altitude, only equalled by the sunrise, both worth braving the cold for although laying in bed watching the sun slowly bring the mountains into view again was breathtaking…and warm lol

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10th April 2023

My mother-in-law & me share a birthday & today is the first time we have been on the same continent to celebrate together. As birthdays go this was amazing, $2m house with a view that’s priceless, some great food later all washed down with red wine!

It was hard to blog on the day because Jamie had made the day so special for her mom and me. Why would I spend any of the day blogging. I woke up to coffee in bed, looking out over the mountains, a truly breathtaking view from our bedroom window, before going upstairs to find everyone and to with Pam a happy birthday and give her a hug.

After breakfast, we went into Breckenridge and just wandered down the main street, stopping off at the occasional shop to look before wandering back down the other side and spent a very leisurely couplehours together. We at a small taco lunch in town because the plan was to have steak and lobster for our birthday tea.

Tea was amazing, cooked by Jamie while I drank wine with Cliff and others out on the deck soaking up the sun and the spectacular scenery. The temperature plummets once the sun disappears, so we ended the night with Yatzee by the fire and finally a relaxing drink in the hot tub to finish

Jamie organised this whole thing for Pam and I and it made our day truly special and something I will never forget!

Thanks Dude!

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10th Revisited

Another nip back in time to repair the streak today is 20th of July but I noticed last night that the streak is at 100 so I have come back to the 10th of April to poke a blog in to see if that repairs the streak!

Ironically or beautifully I was too busy enjoying my birthday to blog….

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