They're Gone

Yes Miss Weasley and family have gone to the land of the red, white and blue. Sigh ... Happy and sad all in one. But to focus on the happy :-) ...

Cheryl did end up going on the plane which was probably much better than in a box but I won't think about her being squished into a carry-on.

D-J is now taller than me - which was always going to happen but still. Ever since he was little we used to measure our hands up against each other - I now barely make it to the fingertip joint. I guess that happens when young men grow up :-)

J-Bear is about an inch shorter than me now, and I am sure it will be the last time that I will see her and have the height advantage. Our hands are the same size.

Miss J-May is up to my armpits and her hand is smaller than mine - for that reason alone she is my new favorite ha ha ha!

I went for a walk with Miss J-May to the bookshop - she is a bookworm too and the others were having a little nap. I offered to buy her a book but she thought it would be better if she just sat down and read it there - which she did! Her ability to read has always amazed me and Tuesday was no exception. What I hadn't noticed before was her math skills - she reported that her lunch would cost $4.25 and worked out that if she got one for J-Bear too it would cost $8.50 instantaneously. Figuring out that she would get $1.50 change was just as simple. The girl is 7! I know I could have worked it out at that age but I am not sure I could have instantly done it in my head :-)

It is just amazing how much the kiddlies have grown (physically as well as in maturity) since I last saw them and we had lots of laughs and giggles around the table. And of course Miss Weasley was a part of it all. I think moving around has prepared me for the time when they left for so far away but I can't help notice how much I have missed out on. Anyway, we have MSN, and blogs, and email, and free internet phones and soon to be webcams and hopefully I will be over there next year so it will all be good.

Interesting things I have learned:

• Cheryl smells like me which apparently is neither a good nor bad smell, it just just my smell, which I couldn't smell.
• I have orange hair and apparently I have always had orange hair. I thought I had brown hair but I'm a carrot top - and yes that will be disappearing very quickly.
• The kiddlies were horrified that I was considering changing my name but after much discussion "Pearl" was my favorite option - although they shall continue to call me by my present name anyway.
• According to this part of the younger generation, I am still "cool" but do need to update my glasses frames.
• I take particularly lousy photos :-)

I am honored that this family is a part of my life - and will always be :-)