Another Pin on the Map: Mi Despedida

Although I've been trying to prepare myself for this day, I've been absolutely dreading saying goodbye to everyone. Even though I know I'm coming back, it doesn't make it any easier. It's been a whirlwind few days with packing up every thing (and even that wasn't finished until an hour before I was supposed to leave), and it didn't really hit me that today's the day until this morning.

Emotionally, I've been a bit of a wreck. As long as my impending departure wasn't mentioned, I was fine. It was certainly not on my list of things I wanted to talk about today.

It was a good last day though... spent with some of my favorite kids and tías!

The goodbyes actually started last night with the other group of tías!

There's not much space in our room to organize and pack up every thing, so I moved all of my stuff into the physical therapy room... This is what it still looked like this morning. Can you spot the kids?

It's a bit of a joke how often I go to this restaurant down the street called "El Pollo Sabroso" ("The Tasty Chicken"). It was only appropriate that that was my going-away lunch at the baby home!

This afternoon I went to the girls' house to say goodbye, and the tías surprised me with a little despedida snack! We had ice cream, popcorn, bread, and coca cola. It was fun to spend a few last minutes with the Casa 3 tías! They're a fun group!

Casa 3, y'all.

Now that school is out, the girls are spending quite a bit of time at home. Every afternoon, they have a "rest time," and today, nearly all of them slept. They weren't thrilled that we woke them up to take a group picture before I left!

Loading up the trufi to head to the airport! Rudi and Carla Booher offered to take me to the airport, but the baby home tías wanted all of the babies to accompany me! Rudi and Carla agreed to take all of us in their trufi. I'm not sure they realized what they were getting in to when making that agreement ;)

Heading out!

All of us at the airport! We probably looked a bit crazy with so many toddlers running all over the place, but it certainly made for an unforgettable send-off!

Leaving her is the hardest thing I've ever done. I cry every time I think about it. She's been spending some time with the tías over the past few weeks to make the transition easier on her, but I know it'll still be hard. I know she's in great hands, but it's not the same as basically having a mother.

Mis 2 hijitas! Love these two so much! M. (on the right) will be going back to live with her mother some time in the next few weeks, so she won't be here when I get back. Luckily, I'll still have baby C. here!

Saying our final goodbyes :(

Truly, all of the tías are wonderful, but these two are some of the best. I can't thank them enough for all of their help and friendship over the past 6 months. I'll miss them just as much as the kids!