So let me lead off with, Beth did make it home. It was not Tuesday however, she walked through the front door at 1:30 am Wednesday morning. After she ate and we talked.... well she told me about her trip, we ended up laying down in bed at 3. I am sure Beth will have much more to say about all of this in her Bi-Yearly "Uganda Recap: Trip 2014 - A story of Delay's, Patience, Patients, and Mama's" so I will not steal her thunder.
So when I left you last M, m, and I were clock watching, and monitoring weather patterns in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. Beth's flight was delayed... again pushing the flight not to leave until close to 8 o'clock Texas time, meaning the team would arrive at 9pm Kansas time. Where just a few hours earlier there was a joy and excitement in the air, that had now been replaced with the smell of corn dogs, desperation, and a high humidity not from rain but from tears. I used about every trick and game in the book to keep the kids hopes up that "it will just be a few more hours and we will go get mom". They were both seeing through my schemes. Maybe 30 minutes after I published the blog entry, the unthinkable happened! No the power did not go out, the kids and I could have dealt with that grabbing flashlights and having light saber wars or played pitch black hide in the dark, where the kids sit in the middle of the floor "hiding" and I trip over them. The flight was... CANCELLED! (dun dun duuuunnnn). Now I have to admit it was breaking my heart each time I had to tell the kids the flight was delayed a few minutes or a hour. You never think about these kinds of talks rocking your child to sleep. I had to tell them Mom was not flying home tonight. (I will get into the details of how Beth made it home in a bit.)
Madison was running around like a chicken with her head cut off, and Mason was patiently watching the clock for the little hand to point to the 7 so we could leave. I turned off the tv and had them sit on the couch and broke the news to them. Madison sat there for maybe 2 seconds processing then got back up to run around. Mason, well he completely broke down. These were not crocodile tears, this was the real deal. The last time I heard him cry this hard was when he broke his arm. He didn't really move, I am not sure if he could have if I asked. I went over and picked him up and held his head to my chest, which only pushed him farther into his emotions. We sat there for awhile tears coming down both our faces. He hurt and his hurt, hurt me. He finally calmed down and looked up at me and said "Dad, I miss mom. I want her to be here right now." I comforted him some more. Then he said "Dad will mom ever come home? Will we get to see her?" And right on queue Madison walked over quickly and bluntly said "NO!" and then ran off. I promise she turned this sad emotional moment into a complete 180. I called Madison over and said that was not nice, and with a devious smile just said "Sorry... I just mad."
(Mason)"Why are you mad?"
(Madison)"Cuz I wanted to go to the airport"
(Mason) " You don't want to see mom?"
(Madison) "She would BE at the airport if we went silly"
Thank you to Madison for diffusing the situation.
There was still some overflow of emotion and sadness the rest of the night but when I explained that mom and some other people were renting a car and driving home, and that she would not be home until after they were fast asleep. They seemed to calm down, knowing when they woke up mom would be there. Madison asked me to lay down with her, and when I told her maybe later, she told me to stay up until mom got home.
They fell asleep pretty quickly. I turned on Netflix, first time since before Beth left, to find something long to watch to pass the time so I was not Mason, clock watching.
Like I said about 1:30 Beth pulls up, and is home. She ate... I would call it cereal but she called it dinner. Then she went in and woke the kids up to give them a hug and a kiss. It was a nice early morning surprise. I walked back by the kids room a few minutes later, and looked in... and stating back at me wide eyed was Madison. She didn't say anything, just stared. Beth and I told her to close her eyes and go to sleep, and she rolled over. Still it was kind of creepy, and funny at the same time.
I can only imagine the conversations that will occur tonight as the kids retell, in their own unique way, a majority of the stories you have been reading over the past several days.
P.S. I had this big plan to film the kids reuniting with Beth last night. Had shots planned, sound track already queued up, it was going to be my Pièce de résistance, of the videos! But C'est la vie!
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