The day leading up to my Mom’s arrival was filled with both nervousness and excitement. I was nervous that she would forget something important, fall asleep in Canada during her layover and miss her flight. I was also nervous about getting to London to pick her up. Hannah was going to take me, but ended up having to work. So it was either I go it alone or find someone else to drive me up there.
Thankfully, my landlord; James, being the sweetheart that he, is immediately offered when he learned that Hannah was unable to take me up there. I was very thankful for that as I have not driven to London on my own yet. I paid very close attention and I think I will be able to handle it when she goes back home.
We really could not have been blessed with a better landlord. James is pretty great. He made sure I was there on time and even bought me a cappuccino while we waited. Then when he thought it was time to go watch for the arrivals we went and stood along the railing to watch for her…and somehow we missed her!
She must have come out earlier than we expected because I was just standing there watching for black bags with pink polka dots and I saw plenty of polka dotted luggage, but no Mom! I started thinking “Well where is she? Did she get held up in customs?” And then there she was behind me, fussing at me for not answering my phone. I didn’t even get to take her picture when she walked out because she came up behind me!
The truth is I worried about whether or not I would hear my phone. You see in the states everyone called me on my cell phone and when it would ring it would sing, “Hello Darlin’”. I never went anywhere without it! Here, in England, I forget I have a cell phone. I RARELY hear it ring and it hardly ever rings. I only have like 5 numbers in my phone! I’m just not as popular here – I guess.
Anyway, Mom had called me twice to see where I was and guess what? I missed the calls! Did not hear the phone! So what good did it do me to send her David’s phone?
So we got Mom! She got to meet James first. No more being nervous about meeting him! We made really good time on the way to London and really good time on the way back, which makes me even more thankful that James drove – least he knows his way! Ya know?
And because we made such good time, we even made it back in time to go pick up the kids from school. This absolutely made their day. That morning when I dropped them off Brier had told me, “This is going to be a REALLY LONG day.” They couldn’t wait to see Nana! They were so excited, I barely got them to bed that night! They were up til 10:30 coloring a banner for Nana that said, “Welcome to England!” They colored it all the colors of the rainbow and we hung it up in the hall before going off to school.
It was so funny because they fully expected Janet to pick them up and there we were! Ashlynn was the first to come out and when she saw Nana she just a grinned real big and then ran off! She came running back with Brier in hand both just a grinning for all they were worth! It made their whole day that we were there waiting on them.
After we got home with the kids, Mom got to enjoy our Jacuzzi bath tub! Said she needed a shower or bath so that she could feel human again. While she did that I checked email and stuff.
Then we got ready and went next door to the Pub for Thai Night, and Mom got to meet Stuart, Chaz, Brian, Suzanne, Charlie, and a few others. The food was really good and we ate way too much! We really enjoyed it. The prawn cakes (shrimp) were amazing. The chicken curry was okay, but the chicken they had on the skewers was the best! It was so tender – it was just mouth watering.
Next the kids introduced Mom to the WII. Mario Cart was first and boy was that hilarious. I even videoed it! Thank Heavens she doesn’t drive that way in real life! While they were trying to teach her how to play, John (one of them – lots of men in this country named John) came by to meet her because he had not been in the Pub earlier and over course he invited us over for a drink – which was nice.
So we finished the WII game and in order to keep Mom awake took her next door for that drink. It worked! I was able to successfully keep her awake until 10 p.m. but had I left alone she’d have been out like a light around 830 p.m. Which might have been alright but I thought I’d better play it safe and make sure. She had a little trouble sleeping, so I let her sleep till 10:30 a.m. the next morning, we ate breakfast, and then we were off and running into day 2!!!
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