In between my schooling and running with my kids, I have spent my free time searching through cheap flight websites, getting an idea of what tickets might be in the summer. I daydream about flying to Ireland and the moment I finally find myself walking off the plane and seeing Aidan waiting for me in the Dublin airport ... Imagining our eyes locking through the crowd, impatiently awaiting the opportunity to run into each other's arms after being apart for so long. I can't fathom the feeling of finally being able to fall into his arms again.
While it's one thing to daydream about jumping on a plane and flying to Ireland, it's another to pull it off. I haven't been able to jump on a plane and go to Europe in 13 years, and the last time I did, I was working for YFU International Exchange and had been asked to chaperone a flight to Germany that had several American kids headed over for their year abroad and several German kids returning from their year in America -- In exchange for my chaperoning the flight, my round trip airfare was covered by the organization. Financially, I knew I was facing a challenge -- I'm currently a full time student, managing a house of three kids, and on a very small (read: teeny, tiny, minuscule) budget. Furthermore, I knew I couldn't leave my little girl for longer than a couple of weeks; my boys are close to graduating and aren't as dependent on me anymore; they're happy to stay with their dad part time and their grandparents part time, but a nine year old little girl can't be without her mom and her mom can't be without her. That meant I either was able to go on my own for a very short time to be with Aidan in Ireland, or I could take my daughter with me and stay longer. (Gee, hard choice there.) I began to focus on the possibility of finding a way to purchase two round trip tickets to Ireland. Where there's a will there's a way --- and God answers prayer regardless.
But before I could even get close to trying to put the money together to go, I had another battle on my hands. In order to take my daughter out of the country, I had to have written and notarized consent from her father. And he did not want to let her go for longer than two weeks. I spent a good month going back and forth with him; he did not want to budge. Finally, I began to think I was stuck with the two weeks. I became pretty discouraged to have to have our time limited because of the ex. Part of me tried to focus on the joy of just being able to go at all, but the other part was lamenting over such a short stay. Finally, I had made a decision to go to the judge to grant permission. It would be kind of an ugly process, but to me it was worth it. This was going to be such an amazing opportunity for my daughter to experience another culture, see the beauty of Ireland, and enrich her young life far beyond what schoolbooks could do. It was worth the battle.
The day after I had secretly decided to go to court, the ex came to pick up the children for visitation. He asked to speak to me, and when I asked what he wanted, he just stated, "You can take her."
?? I wasn't sure I heard him right, and even if I had, did he mean what I thought he'd meant?
"What do you mean -- I can take her??" I asked.
"You can take her to Ireland, for as long as you want. I'm not going to cause any problems and I'll sign whatever I have to," he answered.
I was thunderstruck. He just told me he'd thought about it and changed his mind and to just move ahead with my plans. I wanted to cry. I had been SO stressed over this. And finally, he just handed me permission without me ever having to darken the court door. Thank God!! NOW ... about the tickets. I had it in my head to hurry up and manage to find a way to purchase the tickets before the ex had a chance to change his mind. How was I going to put all this together...?
Airline tickets during tourist season in the summer for Ireland are nearly double what they are off season. Flying from Detroit, my closest airport, for two of us was going to cost about $2,600 round trip. However, after further research, I discovered that if we drive three hours to Toronto and fly from that airport, we could save $100s. I knew if I pressed on and kept looking, I would find a way to make this work.
I'd like to say what comes next is ironic, but I know it was a God thing. I happened to receive a $1000 back in a Federal student tax credit that I had never heard of after filing my taxes, plus $148 back in a state tax refund. And the other really odd thing is that my college financial aid department mis-figured my grant/loan payout schedule and refunded me $565 that should have been applied to my upcoming Spring term to cover books and supplies. Even more ironic is that I met and became friends with another student in one of my online classes that has offered to loan me her book for my next class, saving me just under $200. And, I sold one of my other schoolbooks for $137 and another small book for $10 recently. Soooo....do you want goosebumps?Our passports and round trip airline tickets ended up costing $1742. There was no way I could pull that out of my teeny budget even if I tried. BUT - The unexpected money that came in totaled $1860. I was fully able to cover the tickets and passports without even touching my regular budget. I had $1860 come out of no where AND the ex turned on a dime and without notice or discussion just decided to grant permission for my daughter to go for whatever amount of time I wanted. No one will ever be able to tell me this wasn't the hand of God and meant to be!
After comparing flights and staring at the calendar, I went ahead and purchased the tickets: Two weeks? No way. Three? Too short. Ready for this? We are spending SEVEN WEEKS in Ireland with Aidan. SEVEN!! I got to thinking -- after I graduate next year and start working, God knows I won't be able to take that much time off at once until retirement. Plus, Aidan and I need to spend some good time together after being separated for so many months. All the way around it just made more and more sense to go for a good long chunk of time. SEVEN WEEKS!!! I just can't wait. How I'm going to get through the next 12 weeks until we leave, I have no idea. But it's going to be worth it.
And how cute is this: Aidan's 12 year old cousin had friended me on Facebook several weeks ago. She read my post about the fact that we are headed to Ireland in June, and got so excited that she texted her granny early that morning to share the news! Her granny is Aidan's daddy's sister. The news is traveling through his family pretty quickly. I feel so humbled and so honored that Aidan's family is so welcoming and excited that we are coming to visit. It truly is such a blessing to my daughter and I. We are overjoyed.
We certainly can say we have the luck of the Irish with the way our trip to Ireland has gone from a daydream to becoming reality. More so, we know we are truly blessed.
Oh I just can't wait to get there and be able to see Aidan in person once again.....<3
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