It's never easy saying goodbye

My mom left Saudi two days ago and I was not ready to see her go.  Living the life as an expat, for me, the hardest part is saying goodbye.  I hate being away from family.  I hate the feeling that we're keeping our kids away from people who love them.  I hate the idea that we miss out on so much of other's lives living this far away.  It's tough.

I don't do good with goodbyes and always get extremely emotional.  So when the time came for her to leave, I braced myself.


I've loved having my mom with us.  I loved and appreciated that she gave up 5 weeks of her life to be with us.  I love that she was willing to help out in any way around the house, with the kids, for Brooks and I.  She did everything and anything, willingly!

I love how much we learned from her- watching her interact with our kids and teaching them lessons.  I loved all the little things she "tweaked" around my house to make it look better, feel better, or even function better. I loved watching all the kisses she gave Brooklyn, all the hugs she got from Miles, and the hugs and kisses she forced onto Gavin.

I love that she is responsible for teaching Miles patty cake and some day (soon) "Uh-Oh".
I love that she always seemed to get Gavin to eat his dinner when Brooks and I couldn't.
I love that she knew Brooklyn's feeding schedule even more then I did at times.

I love that she could see when hectic moments were coming on and she'd take the kids out for a walk or to the playground.  I loved that she would take all our leftover meals and create even more meals from them.  I loved that she showed us how to cook new foods.  I loved that I never did laundry!  Brooks loved that he could have a few weeks off while mom was around.

I'm grateful to have had so much time with her after each one of my kids were born to learn from her.  She is a great mom, always showing unconditional love and extreme selfless ness!   No matter what needed to be done-- she'd do it!  I can't even begin to describe how much her willingness to take care of everything allowed us to embrace life with 3 kids quickly and "easier".

Thanks mom for coming and giving up your life to be in ours!  Thanks for all your hard work!  Thanks for doing what needed to be done- no matter what!  Thanks for loving our kids!  Thanks for teaching Gavin-- thanks for being an example to Brooks and I on how to "handle" our attention seeking 3 year old.  Thanks for reminding us to "not forget about Miles".  Thanks for cuddling our baby girl while we were tending to our little guys!  Thanks for your creativity and ideas in getting B's nursery fixed up and done!  Thanks for knowing how to give Brooks and I our time and allowing us opportunities to have alone time when we needed it.  Thanks!  Thank you for everything!

We love you and miss you a ton!  We hope you know the time you gave meant the world to us.  We appreciate you.  We are grateful for you!  We are so blessed to have had you in our lives during this special time.  You truly made life easier and happier!

 

 

We love you mom (and Kimmie)