Tuesday evening, Aidan's family gathered at his brother Ciarán's house for a "leaving party." I was truly saddened once again at the thought of his family and himself having to say goodbye yet again. I knew their most pressing concern was that he wouldn't come back to Ireland for years again. He continued to promise that we would return far sooner than later. Over Skype I was able to see the twins once more as they told me Uncle Aidan was going to America to see me. So smart for three years old! After the party, Aidan said tearful goodbyes to his parents and to his Aunt Anne, before driving off with his sister to spend the night at her house. She was to drive him to Belfast City Airport early Wednesday morning.
Tuesday night late, (actually Wednesday morning around 1am), Aidan skyped me for the last time from Ireland after he'd woken up at his sister's house. I hadn't gone to bed yet -- I was hoping to hear from him. As sad as we were about his family goodbyes, we could barely sit still when we realized that only in a matter of hours we'd be together in Detroit Metro airport. We chatted for a few minutes before he had to get off and go get ready. I bid him safe travels and we hung up. I turned out the light and tried to close my eyes for a little bit of sleep.
Before I really fell into dreamland, the phone rang again around 2:30am, and this time Aidan was with his sister at the airport, killing time. She was very teary. I wished I could have reached through the phone and given her a big sisterly hug. She told us that next time she made it to the airport, she'd be the one flying. She'd had enough of taking us to airports and leaving in tears after heartfelt goodbyes. I was thrilled at the thought of her coming to visit us here in Michigan! OH that would be such an hysterical blast! We said goodbye once more and hung up. I went online and created a text alert for Aidan's flights, so I'd be notified at delays, takeoffs, and landings. I once again turned off the light and tried to sleep.
Not long after that, the phone rang again, this time it was Fionnuala calling from the car. She had left Aidan and was on her way back. Poor girl sounded devastated. My heart hurt for her. I remember when my own brother left the state to live in Arizona when I was a kid, and he's never been back to live here since. Even separated by only several states, and not the Atlantic, I was devastated at being away from my brother. I could only imagine how she must be feeling now that Aidan was leaving to return to the States. We had a bittersweet conversation, sharing her sadness about the goodbyes, but her happiness in that he and I would be reunited soon, and about our upcoming wedding. She reminded me how fond she and the family had become of Jillian and I, and that we are truly considered family, already. It felt so good to hear that, and to be able to tell her once more how much I loved all of them. Our call was cut short by a bad signal on her end, but we would keep in touch on Facebook throughout Aidan's travels. I miss her everyday.
By the time the sun came up, I had barely had two hours of sleep and decided to take the morning easy because of being sick. I wasn't planning to leave town for the airport till around 7pm, anyway. It felt good to just lay around and relax, daydreaming about being with Aidan again and continuing to keep an eye on the flight tracker screen, watching his plane moving across the Atlantic, then across Canada, then eventually angling in to land in Chicago.
I slowly got moving, finished up the cleaning, ran a few errands, deep cleaned my car, dropped Jillian off with my parents and went back home to shower and get ready to go. I got a text from the flight tracker that the plane landed in Chicago, and I was DYING to hear from Aidan. His siblings were messaging me off and on all afternoon, hoping that I'd heard something. I was thankful to hear from all of them -- it helped to share the concern and excitement with my new family. After an hour or more since the plane landed, I was pacing. I still hadn't heard anything. I became a bit frantic. Praying, trying to answer all the messages, and telling myself to think positive, like Aidan always does. Customs shouldn't have been an issue, but with any international travel, there is always that odd chance that something could go wrong. By that point, I was driving myself crazy, and opted to jump in the shower. Can you believe it --- as soon as I was full of shampoo under the water, the phone rang. I missed it, but heard the voicemail notification. I finished up quickly and listened -- sure enough it was Aidan from a pay phone!! Right away, he called again. I was THRILLED to hear his voice!! Everything was fine -- customs all went fine, and on top of that, the customs agent knew Port Huron because he almost got stationed here!! Talk about a small world!! OH sweet relief. FINALLY Aidan was about to be on the final flight to Detroit. It's funny how quickly the hours flew that afternoon, with all the tension and excitement! In the end, I actually found I was running a few minutes behind schedule by the time I finally grabbed a coffee and hit the road. The weather was good, the traffic was low, the sunset over Detroit was gorgeous. I was FLYING HIGH with anticipation!!!!
I received a text notification that the plane from Chicago had been delayed by over 25 minutes, but that it did depart. Here I'd thought I was going to be getting there exactly at the same time Aidan would be, but as it turned out, I arrived really early! I parked in short term parking and made my way to the baggage claim area. I think I was walking on clouds! I chatted with my mom for a bit over the phone and sat down in a nearly-empty baggage area to wait. There were only three or four people milling around -- it was like a ghost town! Thankfully, Facebook and our friends and family all over the globe kept me company while I waited. Without them, I'm afraid I would have climbed the walls!!! I was going CRAZY. It really was funny to chat with everyone, and to see that I wasn't the only one anticipating Aidan's arrival!Finally the time had arrived, and Aidan's plane landed. I was a lunatic by that point. There were two escalators descending into baggage and I had no idea which side he'd be coming from. His brother Declan had asked that I video his arrival, and I was bound and determined to catch it on my iPhone! I waited. And waited. And watched dozens of people claim their luggage, and several sweet reunions. Still no Aidan. OH good grief. I swear I felt six more hairs turn gray!! I flagged down a worker and asked which escalator he'd be due to come down and found out I was on the wrong side of the room all together!! Figures. I made my way over to the right one, and my eyes scanned faces looking for my sweetheart. FINALLY -- I saw him coming down the stairs!!! I began to jump up and down, iPhone and all! Before long, he was coming toward me and we fell into each other's embrace. It was heaven!!!! OH I'd missed him SO MUCH. I know it was only three weeks since we'd left each other in Dublin, but it seemed like eternity! We stopped to take a reunion selfie and I discovered that with all my jumping around, I had deleted the video. OH well. At least we were together at last! We gathered his luggage and headed out together to find the car.
Together. Finally together -- without a deadline, without a looming date ahead of us when we must once again say goodbye. Now we were on our way in a new chapter of our life together ... On our way home. <3
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