Saying Good-Bye.. Again, and Again..

The house is mostly packed, the furniture and plants we don't want to bring have been distributed elsewhere, the U-Pack trailer is getting dropped off tomorrow.. this thing is really happening, isn't it?  We've been saying a lot of good-byes in the last week, and they really haven't been getting any easier.  It's not that I want the good-byes to be over with, but having to do it over and over again is kind of rough.  We're really lucky that we've gotten to see most of our really good friends one last time to say good-bye.

Colwyn's birthday party was kind of a pre-good-bye to some of our best friends, but then we had another park day last Wednesday to say good-bye.  It was great to see everyone, but such a bummer to say good-bye.  Some of these friends are people we've known since our oldest kids were 4 years old, and some are newer friends who we've gotten to know quite well in just the last two years or so.  It doesn't really matter, though.. we're going to miss our friends so much!

Thursday was a packing day, but then on Friday, we met up with some of Fiona's new friends from New Hampshire.  Even though we haven't known them that long, Fiona was just so upset to have to leave these girls - but felt a little better when we found out that they're moving overseas in a few months.  The kids had an awesome time at the Children's Museum in Dover, though.  Again, a little bittersweet because we spent so much time there last fall/winter/spring.. but I'm sure we'll find something similar in Florida.

And today we made a sort-of final visit to the North Shore to get in some 'lasts'.  We met up with more good friends (who unfortunately had to miss the park day because they were sick) for ice cream at Richardson's.  We're going to miss these adorable boys so much, and I'm really hoping that my friendship with their amazing, fantastic, super cool mom (yes, she reads this blog, ha!) will survive with frequent phone calls.

After ice cream, we went to the library to pick up some movies that are new or semi-new to the kids for the trip.  The plan is to mail them back once we arrive in Florida.  Everyone tells me I'm silly for feeling guilty about doing that, but I dunno.. it just feels weird.  But we've got a huge stack of movies for the trip, including lots of nostalgia for me (I'm going to need something to keep me awake while driving!) - Labyrinth, Gummi Bears, Tailspin, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and a few others I'm forgetting.  Then we met up with Mom and Kristine at the cemetery for one last visit to our family plot.

I know we'll be back for visits, probably within a year.  We'll see our friends when we come back, we'll visit the cemetery and our favorite places again.  But it still feels sad when we drive past where we sit every year for the Santa parade the Sunday after Thanksgiving and the place where we sit for the Beverly Farms Horribles Parade on July 4th.  I'm just trying to remember that we were able to cope with only going to Florida once every other year, and that we'll just switch that around and have to cope with seeing our favorite Massachusetts stuff once a year.