Don't Cry Because It's Over...

...Smile Because It Happened.

It's been nearly 2 weeks since we left England and we've been trying to get over it in Greece, totally cut off from email and the blog. I decided to go old school on the morning that I woke up for the last time in Beaconsfield, so here is what I actually wrote on paper (yikes!) that morning.

How do you say goodbye when you are not ready to leave and are still so in love with where you are? Today at 11:00 am we will get into a taxi and leave Beaconsfield for good. I'm not ready and my heart is breaking into a million pieces.

2 3/4 years really isn't a long time, but for some reason, our roots seem to have sunk a little bit deeper here than I ever would have imagined. And it's not about what we have done or what we have seen. Don't get me wrong, we have gone on some amazing trips abroad and seen just how beautiful the UK is on the weekend. But, it's not about that. My heart is breaking over what we are leaving behind - our English family.

A family that just seem to form steadily through daily school runs, weekly playgroups, and a family that held us up when Jeb got so sick. They are people I'll never forget, simply because I can't. These people have taught me so much about love and loyalty. If I ever needed anything, I always knew I'd have a group of people to choose from who wouldn't thing twice about helping. And I would do the same for them. It's taught me so much.

Kids are resilient. But, I wonder about Jacob, who is leaving his best friend Fraser. We said goodbye to them yesterday. Sarah has 4 boys, with the three oldest being the same age as mine. Poor Jeb doesn't understand that he won't see Heath again and Jacob, the poor thing, does. It was heartbreaking for me to hug Sarah goodbye and try to thank her for being like a sister to me. It was even harder to hug her boys for the last time. We walked away crying and Jacob asked why we were moving if we loved it here so much. A good question, so simple, yet so complicated.

I've cried thousands of tears over the past 4 days. First at the boys going away party, then the last day of school where I was a blubbering mess! I hope to come back to visit. I know we'll stay in touch. How can I not, after all that we have been through here? Tom and I agree that these have been the best years of our lives. Never thought I'd say that considering they were also the worst when it came to Jeb's diagnosis. It says a lot about the people who surrounded us and loved us even though we were Yanks and even though they knew we'd leave them.

So, thank you England for your beauty, for the friends, for the lessons learned, and the memories made.

God Save the Queen... God Bless America.