The Beginning

Here marks the beginning of our new lives; the first day of the rest of our lives (stateside), and any other cliche you can think of about new beginnings.  We are back in Dallas, back in the States after a ridiculously long journey home.  We've been back two weeks and while it hasn't been the most wonderful two weeks of our lives, we've done some fun things and had some good times and know it can only get better!

The day we left we were supposed to have a 5 hour layover in Boston.  A little long if you ask me, but doable.  Our 5 hour layover turned into an 11 hour layover and after major flight delays, cancellations, reroutings, and more delays, we landed in Dallas around 3:30am.  I understand why sleep deprivation is used as a torture device because we were both ready to call it quits by the time we got home.  We crashed and burned and awoke the next day ready to hit my parents with some fun news.

What news, you might ask?

WE'RE HAVING A BABY!  I'm pregnant!

Man, it feels good to get that out because I've been holding in this secret for a long time and have been wanting to write about it but couldn't.  So there it is.  Whew.  I'll devote a separate post to it next time.  Though this baby news has helped significantly in my excitement at returning to Dallas, because I otherwise may have been even more sad.  But this has made me a little happy about coming home and telling people!

We gave my parents an "Irish souvenir" that was actually a framed picture of the sonogram.  My dad didn't seem to know what he was looking at at first and I finally shouted "I'M PREGNANT!" while they gasped "Are you really!?" and my mom burst into tears and embraced me in a death grip.  She then said she already had a feeling I was and proceeded to bust out a Sofie the Giraffe toy she'd already wrapped.  Blew my mind.

We spent the next few days (sort of) unpacking our bags and hanging out with John and Lauren and Annie(!) and having 4th of July festivities with our friends, where I sheepishly told them our news.

(I use the term "sheepish" here because I (a) hate bringing things up/announcing things about myself to people and (b) I used to talk about babies ruining lives and how we were NOT READY for kids and here I am having one like a hypocrite.)

Everyone was mostly really excited for so that part was fun too!  We gave Annie a cute shirt ("I'm going to have a baby cousin!") we'd had made in Ireland and put it on her so she could walk out and John and Lauren could see it.  John didn't get it or believe it at first but they were both really pumped.  My aunt collapsed on the floor in hysterical sobs and couldn't believe it either.

Drew's family got home from their Mexican vacation a week after we got back to Dallas, and we were excited to tell them - though Susan's reactions to surprises are generally pretty underwheliming and I wasn't expecting much. Even though she's talked non-stop about a grandchild since 2009.  We gave them the same framed picture of the sonogram and Susan opened it on the couch with Beth and David and she slowly pulled the frame out of it's box and looked at it for a second.  "No..." she said.  "NO.  NO!  NO WAY!  NO!  AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" and she jumped 10 feet in the air, screaming like a lunatic, running over to me and diving on top of me in my chair.  David yelled "Get off of her Susan, you're kneeing her in the stomach!" but she just kept screaming and petting me and squirming around.  She jumped on top of Drew next while Beth opened the baby bib we'd made her and there was more screaming and laughter.  We went out to dinner with them that night to celebrate and she insisted on sitting between Drew and I and I don't think she's ever touched us in the last 10 years as much as she did that night.  It was fun and I wish we'd taken a video.

It's almost the best part about being preggo - telling your family and friends and seeing their reactions!  That's definitely been a fun part about being home.  Here are some other random picture highlights of our first week or two back:

We forced Blake to Skype with us that week and made him open his "souvenir" and he was exhausted from work but still excited I think!

This is the shirt we made Annie!
(Photo credit: Lauren G.)

Reunited with our bestie Mere at the 4th of July party and it feels so good!
(This was the only picture I have from the day, I wish I could feature my other friends I reunited with too.)

Feeding ducks at White Rock Lake with our little Anniebooboo.

Someone's helping us make birthday brownies for my mom/Gigi.

We also got to go to Clark's ranch for an evening with some great peeps for a great time!

Drew, myself, and Kathleen watching the sunset.

Fun night out to Mico and One Nostalgia Place for some karaoke and darts.

And last but not least...our cheesy cliche "baby announcement" we posted on Instagram.  It's a baby Guinness.  Get it??

Being back has had its ups and downs, like a lot of administrative repatriation stuff and living with parents and trying to find cars and trying to figure out one's life and place here in Dallas, but I'm gonna go out on a limb and say something crazy here: it's good to be back.

The End

Our last day in Dublin.  We're back and forth between overwhelming emotions and no emotions at all.  Sadness, happiness, excitement, dread, numb, numb, numbness.

We packed some in the morning, and I went on a two-hour walk around Dublin to all my favorite spots for the last time.  I wandered down the canals and through Ranelagh and Donnybrook and Herbert Park and then through Sandymount over to the beach to sit for awhile and contemplate my life.  Sad and surreal.  We then met Ladonna at the Queen of Tarts for our last lunch meal, walked back through the city (where everything was shut down because some knacker was threatening to jump off a building - appropriate for my last day, no?) and told her goodbye and sprinted away before I could let myself sob.  We wandered through Trinity College (my alma mater) and enjoyed the old buildings for one last time, and strolled through Merrion Square where I said goodbye to Oscar Wilde and the beautiful field of flowers where I spent so much time reading and lounging, and then home to pack, pack, and pack some more into the 5 remaining suitcases we had left.

I cleaned out some old drawers I'd forgotten about and found a lot of random memorabelia that made me smile.  There was an old church program with a list of different Dublin churches we could try, from our very short foray into church shopping.  A business card for the cab driver who picked us up from the airport when we first landed in Ireland and were scared shitless.  Beer tasting notes from Tracy's beer tasting party when we first moved.  A note from Lindsay she sent with Kathleen to Croatia.  A School of Humanities handbook from Trinity College.  A macaron box from Meredith in Paris.  An ornament I'd been given from the American Women's Club.  All things that held such special memories and meant so much at various points in our two year adventure.

We decided to get some pre-dinner Guinness at Slattery's, again, where it all began our first day.  We saw Stefan and were reminded how he asked us if we were "tirsty", and we thought he said "touristy", and we preceeded to tell him we were from Texas when he could care less.  We sipped our thick beers knowing this was the last time we'd ever get any good Irish ones in awhile.  We went to our home away from home, Paulie's, for dinner, where they know us by name - and brought us champagne and limoncello shots because they knew it was our last supper.  We then met a few of our best pals at Searson's to watch the US World Cup game and tearfully tell people goodbye for the last time, even though I swore I wouldn't cry.

The emotions I'd kept bottled up came spilling out and didn't stop.  I cried a lot that night going to sleep, feeling nervous and scared and sad that our amazing adventure was over and nothing but the real world awaited us when we got back.  I teared up leaving our apartment and driving off down Lower Mount Street.  We got our 5 huge suitcases checked in and I cried as the plane took off over the bright green island.  It was officially over.

How do you sum up something that was so life changing and perhaps the best time of you and your husband's life thus far?  I guess you don't, besides saying just that.  It was truly the time of our lives and I'll be forever grateful for it and will forever miss it.

And now it's back to the real world, back to our friends and family that we love, and back for a new adventure and surprise...that I'll write about soon.

The end.  For now.